


Let Lips Do What Hands Do

by erstwhiled



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, teacher!Louis, teacher!Zayn, teacher/student au, zayn wears cardigans and reads shakespeare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-29
Updated: 2013-01-19
Packaged: 2017-11-19 20:08:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/577172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erstwhiled/pseuds/erstwhiled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're not supposed to fall in love with students, it's unethical or something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> General disclaimer about not owning anything or anyone and how this is a work of fiction and like if you show this to anyone directly involved with these people you are a dick :)
> 
> Big ups to my boy Will Shakespeare for the title.
> 
> This basically was to satisfy my need for cute, romantic teacher/student relationships without boatloads of angst and drama.

Zayn stuffed the last biscuit he’d grabbed from the staffroom in his mouth and swapped his mug of tea to his other hand, shaking his now empty hand as if that would stop them burning from the too hot drink. He glanced quickly at his watch and sped up as he moved down the corridor. He was already late thanks to the fact that he left his car out instead of in the garage overnight and it was so cold it took forever to start. He was just past the administration office when “Oh, Mr. Malik!” rang out from behind him, Zayn backtracked a few steps and poked his head in the doorway.

“Morning Gert, what can I do for you this morning?” he asked of the woman sitting at the admin desk.

Gert smiled and handed the boy who was standing at the desk a few sheets of paper. “Can you be a dear and show young mister Payne to his first class? After all it’s yours, it would rather silly to have me walk him there a few paces behind you, and it would give your tardiness an excuse.” She raised her eyebrows pointedly and chuckled. Zayn huffed out a laugh. He had loved Gert since his first day, when she’d told him he looked more like a student than any teacher she’d ever seen. Well, except Mr. Tomlinson with his tendency for brightly coloured pants and no socks. She’s old enough to be his grandmother but God he’d love to take her out for a drink - she’d be a riot.

“Well, I’d better not keep my class waiting any longer then. Come on, I’ll show you the way and save Gert’s poor feet a trip down the halls.” He motioned for the boy to follow him as Gert shushed him then thanked him and promised to scrounge up some nice chocolate biscuits just for him at lunch. 

“So,” Zayn turned his head to look at the boy next to him as they walked down the corridor. They were about the same height, but he thought the boy might end up actually being a little taller. “You got a name then?”

The boy looked up from where he was watching his feet and cleared his throat. “Liam Payne, Sir.”

His voice was deeper than Zayn expected. He smiled and extended a hand across his body towards the boy, keeping his tea out of the way as they shook hands, slightly awkward seeing as they were still walking. “Zayn Malik, I’m your English teacher. You’ll have a homeroom around here somewhere but obviously it’s a bit late for that.” Liam hummed his agreement and looked at the papers Gert had given him. “I think it’s probably best if you hang around for a few minutes after class so I can tell you what you’ll need to go over or catch up on, and so, y’know, you can tell me what you did at your last school. Good, yeah? Okay, here we are, in you go.”

He let Liam go in through to the class ahead of him and pointed him towards a desk at the back beside two boys who had their heads bent together in what looked like an avid retelling of the past weekend’s events. Zayn kicked the door shut, took a sip of his tea and pulled his satchel off his shoulder all at the same time, a move he’d been practicing. 

“Alright you lot, shut up, I’m here now.”

“Sir?” The curly haired boy sat beside Liam raised his hand then continued on speaking anyway. “How come it’s okay for you to be late, but not for us?”

“Because Styles, when you’re late you’re the only one not learning anything. When I’m late, nobody is learning anything, it’s equal opportunity non-education.”

“So we can blame you if we all fail our exams then, Sir?” The boy sat back looking smug, his friend next to him was laughing silently.

Zayn sent a mock glare their way, Harry and Niall were some of his favourite students, not that he should have favourites. Apparently it was unethical or something. “No, you can’t. 

Now before we get started let’s take a moment to embarrass the new kid. Everyone say ‘hi’ to Liam.” The whole class turned in their seats to look at the new addition and droned out an entirely unenthusiastic _Hi Liam_. Well all except for Niall who had purposefully waited a beat or two before greeting the boy, laughter evident through his accent as he finished his greeting after everyone else. Liam flushed and muttered a quite ‘hi’ as Harry clapped him on the back, obviously intent on being welcoming. Zayn watched them and had a hopeful thought that Liam would turn out to be a good influence on the two boys’ work habits. “Right, we’re starting a new unit today actually. Shakespeare!” Unsurprisingly, Zayn was the most enthusiastic. His grin faltered at the collective groan of his class.

A girl in the second row raised her hand looking thoroughly unimpressed. “Sir, why do we even bother with Shakespeare? Nobody even understands it.” A few students nodded in agreement.

Zayn slumped against his desk and folded his arms across his chest. “Remind me why you’re my favourite class again.”

“Because we’re all so good looking Sir.” The class erupted into laughter and cat-calls.

“Hilarious, Niall. Alright, settle down. We’re doing Shakespeare because it’s: one, in the lesson plan and two, because I like it. And trust me, Yvette, by the end of this unit you will understand at least a little bit of Shakespeare.” Zayn went to the cupboard beside the whiteboard that held all the books and pulled a box from its depths. “Come up when I call your name, I’ll issue you a book. Word of warning, though, if you lose it, you have to pay for a new one. First name on the list is Joseph Able.”

The class chatted while Zayn was handing out the books, quieting slightly only when the next name was read out. When he’d finished the list of name he looked up to see Harry smack Niall on the shoulder with his copy before both boys broke down into giggles. “Anybody not got a book?” He scanned the class, eyes stopping at Liam and his raised hand. 

“Right, yeah, sorry. You’re not on the roll yet.” He added Liam’s name and book number to his list as the boy made his way to the front of the class.

Liam took the copy handed to him and scanned the cover. “Hm, Romeo and Juliet.”

“You done it before?”

Liam looked up from the book and smiled almost apologetically. “Yeah, last year. I enjoyed it though, so it’s not exactly a hardship to have to do it again. Plus, it means I’ll do well on my essay.”

Zayn chuckled then grinned at him. “Well, I expect you to now. Sorry we couldn’t be doing a different play.”

“It’s fine, Sir.” Liam shrugged and made his way back to his seat and received a high-five from Harry.

Making a face as he swallowed the rest of his now too cold tea, Zayn looked at the clock above the door. “Okay, seeing as I was late and that took forever, just spend the rest of this lesson reading through the play. Make sure to copy down anything you don’t get so we can go over it tomorrow. You can chat amongst yourselves too.” He pointed to Niall and Harry. “Quietly.”

At the end of class Liam appeared once again beside his desk. Niall and Harry had perched themselves atop desks in the front row waiting for him. “Sir, you were going to tell me what I need to go over?”

“Yeah, I was. Hold up, I’ll just get you some books you’ll need.” Zayn looked over at Niall and Harry as he stood up to go to the cupboard he had retrieved the play books from. 

“We’re not going to be long; you boys should probably get to your next class.”

“That’s alright, Sir, it’s just chemistry. Besides, I have to show Liam the way, we’re in the same class,” Niall piped up from his seat on the desk. Harry turned to look at him frowning.

“Wait, Chemistry? I don’t do chemistry, I thought we had music…” His brow furrowed as he tried to remember what subject he actually had. Suddenly his eyes widened and he jumped off the desk. “Oh fuck! I have drama. Mr. T will give me a shit part if I’m late again. See you lads at lunch.” With that, Harry was out the door and sprinting down the halls, leaving Niall shaking with laughter.

Zayn chuckled as he handed Liam a few books. “It’s nice to know it’s not only my class he’s late to. Alright, this one,” he tapped the book on the bottom of the stack, “is for our novel study. Have a read, it’s not too taxing and has good themes and stuff. And these two are for our poetry study, pick three from each that sort of match up and go over them again and again. Got it?” Liam nodded and shifted the books around in his hands. “Good, if there’s anything else you need, just see me after class. Otherwise, I’ll see you two tomorrow.”

The two boys made to leave before Liam stopped and turned back. “Sir? Do we need a note or something? For our chemistry teacher.”

“Oh, yeah. Hold on.” Zayn tore a corner off the desk jotter he had and scrawled a hasty _‘Sorry, late, new kid stuff. ZM’_ , along with his signature before handing it to Liam. 

“Thank you, Sir.” Liam smiled at him before joining Niall out in the hall to walk to their next class together. God, the kid was polite. Zayn picked up his empty cup and looked at the clock. Mondays were really unfair on him; he had one class first thing in the morning then nothing until after lunch. Zayn supposed he could spend that time writing up more lesson plans and marking homework, or he could go make himself another cup of tea and sit in on Lou’s drama class - that’s always a laugh.

***

Zayn ushered his last class of the day out of the room with a reminder that their assignment was due in at the end of the week and to come forward as soon as possible if they required help. Know them, nobody was probably listening and he’d have to deal with a handful of distraught fourteen year olds who didn’t know what they were doing the day before the assignment was due.

Leaving the door open he settled back at his desk to mark some of the homework from before the Christmas break he was yet to hand back. Typically Zayn would stay after school for an hour or two, marking essays or working on the following weeks lesson plan and just generally make himself available for any of his students (and some of the other English teachers students, too) if they needed help with anything. There was a knock on the door frame and Zayn looked up from a truly atrocious essay on George Orwell’s _Animal Farm_. Really, had the kid even tried reading the book?

“Mr Malik?” The girl peered at him from the doorway; he didn’t recognise her from his classes, a different English class then.

“What can I do for you, love?” She flushed slightly at that, not an uncommon occurrence. He’s been teaching here for the past two years now, he’s heard what some of the girls have to say about him.

She took a breath and looking at her feet, face growing redder said “Mr Tomlinson says ‘Dinner at mine tonight, darling? I’ll cook.’” She glanced up at him quickly before returning to study her shoes.

Zayn choked out a laugh, and the girl started to fidget. Louis was obviously running the detention this afternoon; he had a habit of sending his detainees off with embarrassing messages for him in return for an earlier release. Louis called it ‘an exercise in behaviour modification’; Zayn called it an exercise in humiliation. “Tell him yes and that perhaps he should just send a note next time.”

The girl muttered a quick _yes, Sir_ before legging it back down the hall.

A small shake of his head and Zayn pulled open his desk drawer to retrieve his mobile and send a text message to Louis.

_To: Louis Tomlinson  
Message: Stop sendin them over with terms of endearment. They think I’m ur boyfriend._

Zayn had just set his phone off to the side when the message alert sounded, the rather violent vibration that accompanied it caused the phone to buzz loudly on the wooden desk and startle him, and he nearly drew a massive stripe of red across the essay he had just got back to marking. Not that it would have made any difference to the quality of the piece.

_New Message!_  
From: Louis Tomlinson  
Message: Would that be so bad? 

Zayn snorted and typed out his reply, his thumbs moving quickly over the buttons.

_To: Louis Tomlinson  
Message: Yes. Have u met u? I’m not cut out for a relationship with someone like u._

He didn’t bother to set the phone down this time, instead holding it in his hand while his tossed his red marker pen in the air and waited for Louis’ reply. He nearly missed catching the pen when the phone went off in his hand. He was either going to have to find a way to turn down the vibrate on the thing or get a new phone entirely.

_New Message!_  
From: Louis Tomlinson  
Message: Awww :’( that cut me deep malik I think u should say sorry :( 

He laughed again and tried to imagine actually being in a relationship with his friend, using the trip they had taken to Spain in the summer as a template for living with Louis. God, he’d be driven mental inside of a month.

_To: Louis Tomlinson  
Message: Ur fine. I’ll be round at 6._

Louis’ reply was almost instant.

_New Message!_  
From: Louis Tomlinson  
Message: I’ll be waiting ;D 

Zayn put his phone down, not bothering to text back, and picked his red marker pen back up to finish marking the horrible _Animal Farm_ essay. He was so tempted to just fail it and go home. He read through the next paragraph before sighing and looking up at the clock. It didn’t look like anyone else was going to visit him this afternoon, he might as well leave. After sliding the nearly marked essay along with a stack of others into his satchel and, locking his pens and whiteboard markers in a desk drawer, Zayn slung his bag over his shoulder and flicked off the lights as he left the room.

***

It was ten after six when Zayn started up the stairs to Louis’ flat. He passed the few doors before reaching Louis’, and there was the high pitched wailing of a baby as a young woman pushed a stroller down the corridor towards him. He smiled at her only to have her scowl and tell him to fuck off as she passed. He knocked and turned the door handle, unlocked, did he expect anything less?

“Honey! You’re home.” He could see Louis’ legs from the knee down hanging over the arm of the old blue couch that was far too big for the room. The television was set to the news but with the volume down low.

“You should lock your door, I could have been anybody.” Zayn frowned and locked the door behind him.

Louis sat up, grinning. “Yes, but you weren’t, so it’s fine. Look, I made dinner!” He turned and waved an arm over the containers of Chinese food set on the coffee table along with plates and mismatched cutlery. “I wasn’t sure what you were feeling like so I got a bit of this and a bit of that. There’s beer in the fridge.”

Zayn dropped his coat over the back of the couch and headed towards the kitchen. “I suppose you want me to get them then?” he called as he went, opening the fridge as Louis responded.

“Well, if you insist, I was just about to get up and get them myself.” God, he wasn’t even trying to sound sincere.

“Sure you were.” Louis laughed and took the offered beer, twisting the cap off and taking a long pull. “We have got to stop having take aways on a Monday, Lou.” Zayn twisted the cap off his own bottle and flicked it onto the table, narrowly avoiding the steaming container of lemon chicken.

Louis pouted at him, exaggerated to such a degree that you either had to be Louis Tomlinson or a 5 year old to achieve it. “It’s less fun on other days”

“How does that even work?”

Louis just shrugged and lunged towards the fried rice, emptying half the container onto his plate before passing it to Zayn. “Had a good day then?”

Picking up his plate and leaning back into the couch, Zayn gave a small nod. “Other than my car not starting for ages this morning, it was alright. I got a new student.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, Liam Payne.” He shoved a forkful of food into his mouth and chewed for a few seconds before continuing. “He’s already done the Shakespeare we’re doing and he’s a bit quiet, but that should change fairly soon.”

There was a muted clink as Louis set his beer back on the coffee table. “What makes you say that?”

“He’s been adopted by Styles. Good luck remaining reserved after befriending him and Niall.”

Louis brandished his fork at Zayn. “I hope that’s not a slight against my favourite student.” His ‘serious face’ dissolved instantly when Zayn arched an eyebrow and looked at him. “I know, I know, I’m not supposed to have a favourite. But can I? Please, just one. I’ll take care of him, and I’ll feed him, and I'll walk him every day. I promise.”

They laughed for a few moments before settling back into the couch, watching as the news flashed across the television screen. They ate in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes before Louis turned to look at him, a hopeful look on his face.

“Can I though, Zayn?” Jesus, Zayn almost choked on his rice from laughing.

“Yes, fine, alright. Truthfully, him and Niall are my favourites anyway.”

Louis shoved his shoulder and gave an indignant cry. “You prick, you just told me off for having a favourite when you have two.”

“I did not, I just looked at you.”

“You told me off with your eyebrows,” Louis argued, wiggling his own eyebrows for effect. God, he was ridiculous sometimes.

Picking up his bottle, Zayn took a sip and rolled his eyes at his friend. “Whatever. Shut up and eat your dinner Lou, I’m trying to watch the news.” 

 

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer on Chapter One :)

The year thirteen English class trickled in through the door, all chatting animatedly with each other as they found their seats and waited for the lesson to begin. Zayn slid off from where he was perched on his desk to stand in front of his students. He clapped his hands together once to get their attention. It didn’t work.

“Okay, alright settle down, I know lunch is exciting but it’s not as exciting as Shakespeare, am I right?” He had his hands held out in front of himself expectantly, and the majority of his class looked at him like he was an idiot. Zayn shifted his gaze to the back row hoping to have a different reaction from his favourite students. Harry wasn’t even looking at him; instead he was busily texting off the phone in his hands. Niall was looking at him, and he was shaking his head, mouthing the word ‘no’ when Zayn caught his eye. And Liam was fiddling with the cover of his copy of Romeo and Juliet, a small half smile playing across his lips, it was nice to know Zayn had at least one ally on the ‘Shakespeare is cool’ front. 

“Suit yourselves then,” he sighed, “Seeing as you are all so thrilled to be starting this play, I'm just going to go ahead and read the prologue and maybe act one scene one, when we do it tomorrow, to you by myself so you don’t fight over roles. Unless, anyone would care to help me?” He clicked his tongue at them when they remained silent. “Before we start though, Styles, phone away.”

Harry looked up at the mention of his name, false-innocence plastered all over his face. “It is away, Sir.”

“I can see it in your hand Harry.”

“No, Sir. This isn’t my phone.” He maintained his look of innocence while holding what was very obviously his phone; clearly he was doing well in drama. Beside him Niall was hunched over laughing, head pillowed in his arms while Liam looked faintly disapprovingly at Harry over top of Niall’s head.

Zayn arched a brow. “Put it away, and turn it off, or I will take it and you can have it back on Friday.”

The boy looked at him, aghast. “Friday?” he choked out. “That’s cruel, Sir.” Zayn nodded at him, but Harry was already stashing his phone in the pocket of his trousers. 

“Okay, so, open your books to the prologue. I’ll read that bit seeing as it’s only one part and then we can discuss it for a bit. Afterwards, you can either volunteer for a part or I can just pick you. Everyone is going to have to read at sometime, so don’t think you can get out of it by just not volunteering, okay?” The class nodded, some looking more apprehensive than others, and flipped open their copies of the play.

Zayn cleared his throat and began to read. “’Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, whose misadventured piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love, and the continuance of their parents’ rage, which but their children’s end, naught would remove, is now the two hours traffic of our stage, the which if you with patient ears attend, what here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.’”

He looked up at his class to see some of them re-reading the passage looking slightly unsure, while others were doodling in their workbooks. The boys at the back were having a whispered conversation.

“Who can tell me what that was all about then?” A few tentative hands went up. Zayn picked the one that looked the most confident, a young woman called Justine, who had her sleek dark hair cut into a rather severe bob.

“It’s supposed to, like, tell you about the play without giving it all away right?” She continued after Zayn's nod of encouragement. “So pretty much there are two families and they don’t get on, and their kids fall in love, but they don’t like that, so the kids off themselves.”

“Good, yeah.” Zayn smiled at her and she nodded to herself in a self-satisfied way. “Right, for the rest of the lesson, I want you in twos,” He just caught the way Liam looked between Harry and Niall, “or threes,” Liam gave a small nod when Harry bumped a fist into his shoulder, silently asking him to join them. “Read through the prologue again, and I want for you to write me a new version of it - a modern-day English equivalent. Ask me if you need help, and drop them on my desk at the end of the lesson. Names on the top, please.”

The room dissolved into noise, soft chatter and the scraping of desks and chairs as students shifted to be closer to their group-mates. One student piped up over the noise; hand in the air to get Zayn’s attention.

“Sir? Does it have to rhyme like this one does?”

He shook his head at the boy. “Nah, but try and keep it about the same length. Also, I’ll be handing back holiday homework so just come up and collect it when I call your name.” 

He handed back all of the homework and answered a few queries, the noise-level lowering slightly every time so that his answer and most of the original question could be heard. Soon enough the bell sounded and the class rose almost as one, pushing desks back into place and shoving books into backpacks.

“We’ll be doing act one scene one on Thursday, read over it so you’re prepared.” he called out to his students as they shuffled out, dropping sheets of paper covered in messy handwriting on his desk as they left.

***

Zayn read through most of act one by himself before he got all the voices he was putting on for each character muddled and ended up picking a few kids from the front row to help him. On Friday they read through act two, all of the part read by conscripts except for one, a girl in the second row willing to play Paris. He spent the weekend marking homework, with Louis, or on the phone to his mum and sisters. The occasional call was made to the quit-line when he was feeling desperate for a smoke and needed someone to help him find the willpower to deny himself one, because one would turn into two and that would turn into half a pack by Monday morning.

They read scenes three and four on Monday and Tuesday, a few more students volunteering each time. They had either decided it wasn’t going to be too painful an experience or that it was best to get it over with before Zayn picked them for a part. Some were better at reading aloud than others. Most, however, had the slow and stilted speech often acquired when reading Shakespeare. 

Then it was Thursday day again and Liam was raising his hand, offering to take the part of Romeo. 

“Okay, big part, think you can handle it?”

Liam shrugged. “I’ll give it a go.”

“Good.” He was quietly impressed that someone had volunteered themselves for a main part, especially since this scene also introduced Juliet. Speaking of… “We need a Juliet for this scene, girls?” He searched their faces but all seemed to be avoiding his gaze. “Boys?” Soft laughter rang out along with a few calls of ‘ _really sir?_ ’ 

“No one? Okay, I’ll do it then.” The laughter in the room got a bit louder before Zayn cut them off. “Come on, I know some of you do history. The roles of women were played by men when these plays were written because women weren’t allowed to act on stage. We’re being historically accurate here.”

“In that case, Sir,” Harry called from his seat in the back. “I’d like to play Juliet’s nurse.”

“Cool. Anyone else?” There was a muffled yelp from the back and Zayn saw Niall rubbing a hand over his ribs after what could only have been a jab from Harry.

Niall raised his hand and was still scowling at Harry when he spoke, “I’d like to be the, uh, the Third Servingman?” 

“You know that part’s only two lines?” Niall just nodded when Zayn asked, “Okay, let’s get to it then. Ben, you can play the First Servingman. Take it away.”

At first Ben appeared slightly startled at being randomly selected before shrugging and beginning to read aloud. Zayn picked up the role of Second Servingman and shortly it was Niall’s turn.

“We cannot be here and there too. Cheerly boys! Be brisk awhile, and the longer liver take all.” He sat looking quite pleased with himself as a boy across the room began speaking Capulet’s part, tripping over some of the words and timings but doing well nonetheless. It would be Liam’s turn soon and Zayn watched him as he followed along with the words, his finger tracing down the page as each new line began.

Liam cleared his throat before he began to read. “What lady’s that, which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight?” He paused to let Servingman Ben speak before starting up again with a speech about Juliet’s beauty. Zayn sat back on his desktop, play book clasped loosely in his hand as he watched Liam. The boy was by far the best at reading Shakespeare so far. He didn’t fall victim to stilted speaking patterns as some of the others had. Instead, he spoke confidently, letting the sentences flow naturally, Zayn was sort of transfixed. Of course, he was taking a completely professional interest in the way Liam spoke long forgotten words like he used them every day, right up until Liam flicked his eyes up from his book to meet Zayn’s as he spoke his last lines for the moment. “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight. For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” 

Zayn knew he’d held Liam gaze for just too long when Liam’s face had started to colour, flushing high on his cheekbones. Liam stared a second longer before looking away, Zayn quickly following suit and nodding approvingly towards the girl making a decent effort at playing Tybalt. He’d tried to fight it, but his curiosity had gotten the best of him, and Zayn had to know if Liam was looking at him again. He let his gaze drift around the room before settling on Liam, who had his eyes on his book and not on Zayn. He wasn’t red in the face anymore either, and as he was turning the page, Liam wet his lips, tongue quickly swiping out to run over his bottom lip. Curiosity satiated, Zayn looked away and flicked to the right page. 

Their back and forth as Romeo and Juliet was easy, both of them confident enough with Shakespeare that neither of them struggled with the lines. Liam didn’t look up at Zayn this time. However, he did glare at Harry once or twice when he was jabbed in ribs, mostly when the stage directions mentioned kissing. Zayn did notice Liam blushed again; the whole class was watching him and also having a bit of a giggle about Zayn playing Juliet. Suddenly, Harry burst forth rather dramatically with his first line, startling Niall from where he had started to doze off. Harry took to the part of Juliet’s nurse like a duck to water - he even affected a shrill elderly woman’s voice. Liam looked a little relieved when he finished, slumping back in his chair to watch Harry and Zayn’s conversation just before the scene ended. 

Zayn had the class talk about the scene they had just read over for about ten minutes before deciding that it was close enough to the end of the lesson to just stop there. Everybody seemed to perk up at the fact, that because this lesson was the last of the day, being let out earlier meant also getting out of school early. Zayn shushed their delighted chatter with a reminder than other classes were still working so they would have to be quiet moving through the halls. 

“Also, just before you leave, make sure you’re here tomorrow so I can give you your next novel.”

A boy groaned as he rose from his seat. “But I haven’t even finished the first one, Sir.”

“Then you’d better read faster.” Zayn shook his head when the boy rolled his eyes. “You’ve also got to read two that I haven’t given you, remember.” The boy sighed and nodded as he left the class, punching his friend in the back when he was laughed at. 

***

The following Tuesday Liam meet with him after school to discuss the first novel they were given, _1984_ by George Orwell. They sat face to face on desk tops, Liam asking questions about themes and symbolism while Zayn tried to answer them in a way that wouldn’t give Liam too much of an advantage over his class mates. It was easy talking with him. Generally when Zayn had students asking to discuss things with him they would trip over their words, embarrassed to be asking for help or, else they were too vague with what they needed and finding out was like pulling teeth for Zayn. But with Liam it was effortless; he came up with good points of his own or added to what Zayn was telling him. He was a very capable and enthusiastic student and Zayn was glad of that, and maybe even a little proud. Liam finally left when one of Zayn’s year 10 students knocked on the door with a pile of library books under one arm and tears in her eyes. 

***

As the class was leaving for lunch on Friday, Liam ducked out from the arm Niall had slung around his shoulders and stopped in front of Zayn’s desk. 

“Do you want us to wait for you?” Niall asked him from the doorway where he and Harry had stopped.

Liam waved them away. “Nah, I’ll be two minutes, I’ll catch up.”

“Right.” Niall nodded and he and Harry turned to leave. He stopped again and said over his shoulder, “But if you’re any longer I'm not going to stop Cher from nicking your seat.”

“Two minutes.” Liam reiterated. He waited until the other boys were further down the hall before addressing Zayn. “Mr Malik, Sir, I was wondering if we could talk again after school? I’ve finished Dorian Grey already and I just wanted your thoughts on a few things.”

Zayn was surprised; Liam was probably the first one finished. In fact, he was probably the only one who’d started as well. “Yeah, that’s fine. You can just pop by. You know I'm always here, there’s no need to ask.”

Liam’s expression looked troubled and he brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck. “See that’s the thing, Sir, I'm actually going to be busy right after school. I'm going over to Harry’s with Niall to practice for music. So I was thinking we could meet after that… there’s this pub that I walk past on my way home from Harry’s and we could do it there?”

“A pub?” Zayn’s eyes went wide before his brow furrowed. “I'm not sure that’s the wisest thing, Liam.”

“I know, but it’s a lot easier for me. I mean, it’s on my way home from and I wouldn’t have to walk all the way back here. Besides, it’s not really a pub; it’s more like a café with beer.” Liam himself looked a little unconvinced at that but shrugged anyway.

Zayn was still frowning. “I just don’t feel it’s entirely appropriate to meet with you in a place that serves alcohol, especially at half five on a Friday.”

“I'm eighteen, Sir, and it’s not like I plan to drink.” Zayn could swear Liam wanted to roll his eyes at him.

“But still, it’s a pub, Liam.”

“Would you rather we go to your house then? It doesn’t bother me. I just think that if I wait to talk to you on Monday that I'm not going to benefit as much. I'm going to be busy this weekend, so I won’t be able to write down everything I want to discuss let alone have time to go over the book again.” Liam looked at him, eyebrows arched slightly. His expression was almost pleadingly hopeful.

Zayn sighed and bit at his bottom lip. “Alright,” he said warily, “but only because it is Friday and waiting ‘til Monday would mean you didn’t have everything fresh in your mind. Also, because going to my flat is completely out of the question.”

“So, for the sake of my education then, Sir, it’s best to meet tonight?” Liam grinned and pushed his fingers through his fringe.

Zayn could only look at him and nod slowly. He was still trying to decide if this was a good idea or a really bad one. He’d be out with one of his students. On a Friday night. At a pub. So, probably not a good idea then. Probably a very unethical idea, and yet he still wasn’t saying no.

“Do you have a pen? I’ll write down where it is.” Zayn handed over the pen he was holding and their fingers brushed slightly as Liam took it from him. The boy leant over and wrote the address on Zayn’s desk jotter. His handwriting was a sort of neat half-cursive. “There. I should run actually, they’ve probably given my seat to Cher, those pricks. Oh, sorry. I’ll see you later then.” He smiled again, cheeks flushed slightly, probably from swearing in front of Zayn, and headed out the door.

 

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer on Chapter One :)

Liam was sitting at a small table set against the edge of the room when Zayn walked in. He’d driven past the pub on a few occasions but had actually never been inside. It was nice, the bar and tables made from a dark wood with a new enough finish that they still shined in the light. The chairs were the same, the seats upholstered in a deep green that matched the paint on the wall behind the bar. Liam hadn’t seen him come in; he was still idly flicking through his novel, stopping every few pages to read a sentence or two properly before moving on. His backpack was sitting unzipped on the third, spare chair and Liam reached into it to pull out a notebook and pen. 

Zayn made his way over to Liam, nodding at the barman as he passed. He cleared his throat and paced his hand on his chair but didn’t pull it out. “Took me a second to find you, didn’t realise you’d have changed out of your uniform.”

Liam looked down at himself then gave Zayn one of his small half-smiles. “Yeah, well I thought it’d look less weird, me in a pub in my uniform.” Zayn nodded in agreement. Liam looked older, now that he’d swapped out his uniform trousers and jumper for a pair of jeans and a soft looking grey zip-up hoodie, darker across the shoulders from the rain that hadn’t let up since it had started mid-afternoon. 

“You’re not drinking?” Zayn motioned to the glass of orange juice that was sitting near the salt and pepper shakers. 

“No.” Liam shook his head, his damply curling fringe falling in front of his eyes before he pushed it to the side again. “But you can if you want, I don’t mind. I did order some chips though, I'm a bit starving.”

He looked over to the bar then back at Liam, who was frowning a little at where Zayn’s hand was still resting on the back of his chair, he was probably a bit unsure as to why Zayn hadn’t sat down yet. “Right, well, I’ll just go and get a drink.” Liam nodded at him once then went back to his book as Zayn shuffled off to the bar to order a pint.

A few more people had arrived at the pub while Zayn was talking to Liam and he had to wait a few minutes for the barman to get to him. Zayn arrived back at their table, beer in hand. In the time that he was gone Liam had taken off his hoodie and hung it along the back of the spare chair, presumably to give it a chance to dry. He sat down and huffed out a laugh, “He ID’d me. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or offended.”

Liam chuckled low in his throat. “He did the same when I got my juice, erring on the side of caution I think.” He picked up his glass and brought it to Zayn’s, knocking them together so they made a glassy clink, “Cheers.”

Taking a sip of his beer, Zayn watched as Liam pushed the sleeves of the white long-sleeve he was wearing under the hoodie up to his elbows. “Yeah, but with you it makes sense. I, on the other hand, haven’t been eighteen for a while.” 

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-five, just.” Zayn paused then shrugged “Okay so I'm not _that_ old; I’ll go with being flattered rather than offended.”

Liam smiled again and took a sip of his juice, tongue darting out to bring his straw to his lips. “Are you the youngest teacher at school then? Harry says Mr. Tomlinson is young but he probably seems younger ‘cause he’s a bit…” Liam looked away from him.

Zayn leant forward, curious. Liam just swiped his thumb through the ring of water left from the condensation on his glass. “A bit what?”

Dragging his eyes up from the tabletop, Liam hesitated, “Childish, Sir. Because he’s a bit childish.” Liam seemed to relax again when Zayn let out a proper laugh.

“Yeah, he is a bit. But, yeah, I am the youngest. Lou – Mr. Tomlinson – is about a year older than me.” Just then, a boy a few years younger than Liam arrived with the bowl of chips Liam had ordered. He set them on the table and left after quietly telling them to ‘ _enjoy_.’ Zayn reached for a chip. “Hmm, needs salt. That okay?” Liam smiled and passed him the salt shaker. “Thanks. You know, I don’t mind if you want to get a beer, you’re eighteen after all.” He sprinkled some of the salt onto the chips and took another, dipping it in the small bowl of sauce nestled in the centre. Liam copied him.

“I don’t drink.” Liam bit his chip in half and watched the steam from the half still held in his fingers curl up into the air.

Zayn stared at him, one eyebrow raised sceptically. “At all?”

The boy shook his head. “When I was born one of my kidneys wasn’t working so they took it out. That was fine, having just the one. But we moved when I was fourteen. I changed schools and I guess I kind of fell in with the wrong crowd.” He went back to playing with the water-rings on the table top, shrugging one shoulder. “I was stupid. I sort of knew the drinking would hurt me. I definitely knew mum would have gone mental if she found out, but I just wanted them to like me, you know, as you do. I wound up making myself so sick I ended up in hospital for a bit, and then bed rest at home for a while. I missed so much school I had to repeat year eleven.”

“Fuck.” Zayn hadn’t expected that. He sat staring wide-eyed at the boy across from him. Liam, quiet, studious, and courteous Liam wasn’t someone one would assume have had nearly drunk themselves to death at the age of fifteen. “ _Fuck_.” he said again.

“Yeah.” He looked back up at Zayn, his eyes moving quickly over Zayn’s face as if he was trying to see if he could read his thoughts from his facial expressions. To Zayn, Liam seemed like was embarrassed by what he’d just told him. He wasn’t red-cheeked like he was sometimes during class. Instead, he was fidgeting, touching everything within reach. Zayn decided he liked blushing Liam better than fidgety Liam, because at least then he didn’t have the urge to grab Liam’s hands to stop them flitting from object to object. 

“I can see why you wouldn’t want to drink then.” Zayn didn’t really know what else to say. He took another sip of his beer then set it down rather quickly, feeling a bit guilty all of a sudden. Liam must have noticed because he smiled and shook his head gently as he stuffed a few sauce-free chips in his mouth.

“I don’t even have those liqueur-filled chocolate. I mean they’re gross anyway, but I still don’t have them, just in case you wanted to get me some for my birthday.” He grinned brightly and Zayn was caught a little off-guard. Liam was joking with him and smiling at him, Zayn didn’t think he’d seen that particular smile from Liam yet. 

“I’ll make a note of that.” Liam laughed at him and picked up his orange juice again, taking a sip and slipping down slightly in his chair. Zayn’s whole left leg tensed when he felt Liam’s shoe brush his ankle and stay there, pressed against the bone of it. Liam didn’t even seem to acknowledge it; he just ate a few more chips and played with the straw in his half empty glass. “You’re fitting in well here though?”

Liam nodded happily, “Yeah, I don’t feel like I need to impress anyone here. Or at least not in a way that could kill me. I hang out with Harry and Niall the most, they’re great actually. We have a few classes all together. I'm pretty sure Harry wants to start a band or something, he keeps hinting at it.”

“That sounds like great idea. It might cheer Niall up a bit. I’ve noticed he’s looked a bit down this week. You do all know you can come and talk to me if something’s wrong? It’s a part of my job.” Zayn put on his best ‘helpful teacher’ face, which actually ended up being one of confusion when Liam chuckled.

“Niall’s fine, Sir. He had his brace fitted on Monday. Harry’s been chucking sweets at him all week because he can’t chew them yet, so he’s been sulking.” Liam tried to hide his grin behind his hand but when Zayn burst into laughter he joined in. 

Zayn knew he shouldn’t be laughing, Harry was being a little cruel, but he just wasn’t expecting that to be the reason for Niall’s bad mood. He’d known Niall was getting his teeth fixed, he’d seen the flash of metal when Niall had glumly read aloud his part in Romeo and Juliet on Thursday morning. Being that upset over not being able to eat sweets for a week or two was quite funny. As they were laughing, the shoe Liam had resting against Zayn’s ankle shifted, rubbing over his ankle bone once, twice, three times. On the third time, the toe of Liam shoe slid up Zayn’s pant leg slightly before retreating entirely. Zayn froze, staring at Liam who was sat back, smiling gently. There was no way that was accidental.

Liam checked his watch and downed the rest of his orange juice, forgoing the straw to drink straight from the glass. “I should get going. Mum will be expecting me to be on my way back from Harry’s about now.” He stood up and started packing away his untouched books. 

Coming out of his stupor, Zayn pointed at the notebook that just disappeared into Liam’s backpack. “But we didn’t go over Dorian Grey.”

“I really should be getting home though. We can do it on Monday, it’s fine.” He moved to stand in front of Zayn, hand outstretched. “It was good talking to you, Sir.”

Liam smiled as Zayn shook his hand. “Yeah, I uh…yeah, you too Liam.” The handshake lasted a fraction of a moment too long. As Liam released his hand, his fingers curled inward, ghosting along Zayn’s palm and moving lightly over Zayn’s own fingers before Liam’s hand was shoved into the pocket of his jeans.

Zayn watched the boy leave, his right hand held in a loose fist, the phantom feeling of fingers moving along his own lingering. 

He sat there, alone at his table as the others filled up around him, finishing his pint and having a good think about what just happened. The smiles and the blushing that had been increasing in occurrence over the past few weeks, and now the soft touches. Not to mention the fact that he’d just spent forty minutes with the boy _not_ discussing Liam’s coursework like they were supposed to. Did Liam have a crush on him? Zayn ran a hand through his hair, fingers catching slightly on the more gelled strands, and wondered why he didn’t seem to have a massive problem with the idea that Liam might fancy him.

***

_To: Louis Tomlinson  
Message: Mine. Asap._

_New Message!_  
From: Louis Tomlinson  
Message: Just dropped el at the airport be there soon. 

_To: Louis Tomlinson  
Message: Thanks._

***

“I did knock, but it’s clear to me now that you couldn’t hear me over the sound of your brooding.” Louis came up to stand beside Zayn where he was leaning against the balcony railing. “I did get to use the key you gave me though, first time too, quite exciting.”

“Sorry, I was thinking.” Zayn took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled the smoke out into the chilly wind.

Louis eyed the cigarette as Zayn brought it to his lips again and then at the butts screwed into the ashtray at his feet. “I thought you quit?”

“I did.” Zayn, still not looking at Louis, flicked the ash from his smoke over the balcony, it too floating off in the breeze.

Louis snorted. “Clearly. How many is that then?”

“Six.”

“Six? Right, so if you’re chain smoking something must be wrong then. Oh, no you don’t, give that here.” Louis reached over and plucked the cigarette from Zayn as he was bringing it to lips again. He dropped it to the concrete and crushed it under the heel of his shoe.

Zayn glared at him but didn’t bother to light another. He wasn’t really mad at Louis for taking his smoke, he was supposed to be quitting after all. It was just that without the cigarette to focus on, he was going to have to talk to Louis. Zayn wanted to talk to Louis, he just didn’t know if he could. How do you tell your best friend and fellow teacher that you maybe want to have a bit more of a hands-on relationship with one of your students? He bit his bottom lip then opened his mouth as if to say something, before closing it again and folding his arms in front of himself.

“What’s wrong, Zayn?” 

He felt Louis’ hand on his shoulder, pushing gently, trying to turn Zayn to face him. Zayn let Louis shift him, but instead of stopping in front of him, Zayn continued until he was facing the door that lead inside from the small balcony. “We should go inside, it’s fucking freezing out here.” Zayn pushed off from the railing and made his way through the door, knowing Louis would follow. 

They ended up in Zayn’s tiny kitchen. Louis was perched on the countertop, his heels beating against the cupboards below with no particular rhythm as Zayn rummaged through the fridge for beer. Finding none, he swore and moved to the pantry. He found a dusty bottle of merlot hidden in a corner; god only knows how long he’d had it, he didn’t remember buying it.

“Get some glasses, will you?” He asked Louis while pulling open a drawer to get the bottle opener.

“Aye aye, Captain.” Louis slid off the counter and went to the cupboard where he knew the glasses were kept. “This is good, because even if you don’t want to tell me what’s wrong now, after three glasses of red you lose the whole cool, mysterious thing. You wouldn’t be able to shut yourself up even if you wanted to.” 

Zayn scoffed. “Now I remember why I stopped buying red wine.” Louis just laughed softly and pushed him in the direction of the sofa.

“Tell me what’s wrong.” Louis asked again after they were seated, each with a glass of wine in hand.

Zayn took a sip of his wine. It was alright. It had a soft taste and wasn’t very bitter, perhaps sitting in his pantry for an unknown amount of time had made it better. Doubtful. “I have the potential to be in a lot of trouble.”

“Trouble?” Louis was frowning at him. “Zayn, what have you done?” 

He sighed and turned the wine glass by its stem, stopping when he almost spilt wine all over himself and the sofa. “I think I…I mean I…No, okay. What I'm trying to…have you, have you ever wanted to shag one of your students?” He couldn’t bring himself to look at Louis.

“Zayn.” Louis’ voice was just above a whisper. “Please tell me you hav-”

“Have you Lou?” Zayn cut him off. After setting his wine glass down on the floor beside the sofa, Zayn clasped his hands together, fingers threading between each other. He brought his elbows to his knees and rested his forehead against his joined hands. “Have you ever?”

“No.” Louis said in his not-really-a whisper. Zayn glanced at him out the corner of his eye and he looked lost and a little terrified. “Do you want to? Is that why you’re asking me?”

Zayn took a few deep, steadying breaths and then looked at Louis properly for the first time all evening. “Maybe, I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it before today.”

“Okay. Okay, so what changed? Why today?” Louis finally set his glass down on the floor as well, his eyes not leaving Zayn’s as he bent down.

“I think, maybe, because the flirting became really obvious. And I didn’t do anything to stop it,” Zayn closed his eyes and sighed into the hand he’d pressed against his mouth. “Because I think I didn’t want to stop it. I liked it. If it had been anyone else I'm pretty sure I would have put a stop to it. But he’s different and I don’t know why.”

Louis’ eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly. “He?”

“Yes, he. Does it matter?” He’d never told Louis that guys were a part of his dating pool; it had hardly seemed relevant, because, in the two years he’d known Louis, Zayn had only had girlfriends. He’d had exactly one boyfriend, a four month affair in his second year of university that he’d kept secret from just about everybody. He guessed Louis had the right to be a bit shocked, even if it made Zayn a bit tetchy.

“That you’re thinking of shagging a bloke? No. That you’re thinking of shagging a student? Yes. Who is it? No, don’t tell me. I think that would make me an accessory to this, or whatever.”

Zayn let out a small laugh that startled the both of them. “Lou, I'm pretty sure whether or not I tell you his name isn’t going to matter anymore, considering I’ve already told you I'm thinking about sleeping with him. It’s Liam Payne, from my Year 13 class.” 

Louis nodded and sighed, he was slightly shaky on the exhale “So he’s what, seventeen, eighteen? It’s not illegal at least, but god Zayn, it’s wildly unethical. I know you’re not stupid. I know you know the risks.”

“I could lose my job. And you could lose yours now that I’ve told you.” Zayn grimaced and looked apologetically at Louis. “I am sorry about that.”

“Thanks for that.” Louis snorted then looked seriously at Zayn once more. “But it’s not just that we’d lose our jobs, Zayn, we’d never be allowed to teach again. No one would hire us. Not to mention Liam. An affair with a teacher, a _male_ teacher, what would that do for him if he wants to go to uni?”

“God.” Zayn put his face in his hands and made a muffled noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob. “God, I could really fuck things up, couldn’t I?”

“Yeah,” Louis said solemnly, “you could.”

 

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer on Chapter One :)

By Sunday evening Zayn had come to the conclusion that Liam had tricked him into some sort of date-like thing and, god, he was going to have to talk to him about boundaries, wasn’t he? He was going to have to nip this in the bud. It was in everyone’s best interests. 

When he walked into class on Monday morning, Zayn was trying to tell himself that the sick feeling in his stomach was from the thought of the potentially embarrassing conversation he was going to have with Liam, rather than it being from the fact he was going to be giving up something he didn’t really have in the first place.

After shutting the classroom door with a sigh, Zayn turned to face his Year 13’s. “Right, well you look about as good as I feel this morning.” His eyes drifted towards Liam. He was sat, smiling at him cheerfully, between Niall and Harry - who were quite possibly not even conscious. Niall groaned and lifted his head from where it had been pillowed in his arms to blink blearily at Zayn. One was conscious then. “Hmm, some of you look even worse. What’s wrong with you two?”

“Really fu-fucking hungover, Sir.” Harry said shakily, who, unlike Niall, kept his head rested on his arms.

Zayn frowned at them even though neither were looking at him, Niall having gone back to his arm-pillow. “Drinking on a Sunday night boys? Is that really the best idea you’ve ever had?”

“Not Sunday, Sir.” Niall’s muffled voice came as Harry’s head moved in a rough approximation of a head shake. “I can’t even remember Sunday. Harry’s eighteenth was on Saturday night.”

“This is the most hungover I have ever been.” Harry moaned and finally lifted his head to squint at Zayn. “Not that I partook in underage – fuck it, I don’t even care. I just want to go home.”

There was just something so incredibly pitiful about them that Zayn could do nothing but feel sorry for them. “How you even managed to get to school in the first place I have no idea. But go on, drag yourselves to the office. Gert’ll let you have a lie down and maybe call your mums.”

“Thanks, Sir.” Both boys whimpered when they pushed themselves up from their desks and began a slow shuffle towards the classroom door, their classmates watching them in amusement.

Niall almost went face-first into the door when he tripped over his own feet, only to be steadied by Zayn’s hand on his arm. “Uh, Liam, you want to help them out? Make sure they don’t collapse in the hallway or anything.”

“Sure thing.” He was out of his seat and at Niall’s side quickly, his arm going around Niall’s shoulders and brushing Zayn’s hand with his own as he did so. “Come on, Harry, it’s not far.”

“Right,” Zayn faced his class once more as the three boys were making their way out the door. “For those of you who didn’t turn up today outrageously hungover, we’ll continue on where we left off in Romeo and Juliet.”

***

By the time Liam returned the period was almost over. He smiled apologetically and made his way to his desk only to be stopped when Zayn reached out and caught his forearm. “Everything okay?” he asked Liam quietly so as not to disturb the students currently reading aloud.

“Yeah,” Liam whispered back. “Harry was sick so I stayed and helped Gert clean up, then I sat with him while he did it again. Not sure I’ll be wanting lunch today.” He made a face and Zayn smiled.

“Speaking of lunch, we can go over Dorian Grey, if you want?” 

Liam’s face lit up and he gave a quick nod before gently pulling his arm from Zayn’s grasp and making his way to his seat. 

A part of Zayn had really wanted him to say no. Because talking with Liam at lunch would give Zayn the perfect opportunity for the boundaries speech he didn’t really want to give him, but absolutely knew he should. 

And just when he’d stopped feeling queasy. 

***

Zayn was at his desk when Liam walked into his classroom at lunchtime, shutting the door quietly behind him. He pulled himself up onto a desk opposite Zayn’s and dropped his bag at his feet.

“Hello.” He smiled at Zayn and swung his legs, kicking his bag softly on every upswing. 

Zayn made his way round to the front of his desk and pushed a small stack of papers to the side before sitting down. “Hi, you heard from either of the boys since this morning?”

“I'm pretty sure Niall’s asleep, but Harry sent me a picture of himself lying in bed. He still looks a bit wrecked. They should be fine by tomorrow though.” 

“That’s good; I take it you had a big weekend then?” He wasn’t avoiding the conversation he was going to have with Liam, he was just checking up on his ill students. Zayn groaned internally, of course he was avoiding it. Now that he’d realised what Liam was doing he couldn’t stop thinking about him - which was bad, very bad.

Liam nodded. “Yeah, massive actually. I think Harry invited at least half of the sixth form to his party, more might have turned up.” He looked slightly awed and Zayn found it incredibly endearing. There was a lot Zayn found he liked about Liam; the way he moved his hands when he talked sometimes, his shy little half smiles, the way his eyes would narrow when he really smiled. Zayn was fucked.

It was now or never, and as much as he was leaning towards never – Zayn cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together, suddenly uncomfortable. He’d never been truly uncomfortable around Liam and that was a little disconcerting. “Right, well before we get to chatting about the book, there’s something I need to discuss with you.”

Liam frowned. God, even confused he was cute. “What is it, Sir?”

As it turned out, Liam wasn’t going to find out, because as soon as Zayn opened his mouth to speak again, the classroom door burst open and Louis strode in looking rather miffed. “Oi, Malik. We have a meeting, in case you’ve forgotten - which you clearly have.” Louis waved offhandedly at Liam. “We’re already late, so say goodbye to…sorry I don’t actually know your name?”

Sliding off the desk, Liam stuck out his hand for Louis to shake. “Liam Payne, Sir. I started a few weeks ago.”

“Liam.” Louis looked over at Zayn, the realisation evident on his face. “ _Liam?_ Well, Mr. Malik and I have a meeting to attend, so if you don’t mind.”

Zayn saw Liam shake his head quickly before he ducked down to grab his backpack. He swung it up onto his shoulder as he straightened. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sir.” Liam smiled gently at him and Zayn watched him leave. He could feel Louis’ eyes on him the whole time.

“What the fuck?” Louis hissed, moving forward to grab Zayn’s arm, he shook him a little.

Breaking free, Zayn glared at his friend. “What? We were talking about his coursework.” Well, they were going to.

“Yeah, okay, alone in a classroom, with the door closed.”

Zayn shrugged. “It’s lunchtime Lou, the halls are noisy.”

Louis sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. “You want to shag him Zayn. You can’t be alone in a classroom with him.” He brought his hand to rest on Zayn’s shoulder and looked him deliberately in the eye. “And yes, while I admit that he is a good looking boy, and I can see why you'd want to go there, _you can't_. Swiper no swiping.”

That threw him; Zayn looked at Louis in baffled amazement. “Did you just reference Dora the Explorer in an adult conversation?”

“I'd watch it with the girls, when they were younger.” Louis shrugged nonchalantly. 

Zayn arched one eyebrow disbelievingly at Louis. “No, I'm pretty sure you still watch it now, by yourself.”

“This conversation is not about me and my television habits, Zayn. It’s about you; specifically you being alone in a classroom with the one student you want to sleep with.” Louis took a breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “And judging by what you've already told me and the way he looked at you as he walked out just now, he wants to do you too.”

“You think?” Zayn grinned. He knew _he_ thought Liam was attracted to him. But having an outsider confirm his suspicions meant that there was something there.

Louis glared at him and grabbed Zayn by both shoulders this time, his fingers digging in slightly. “Swiper. No. Swiping. This is serious Zayn.”

Louis was starting to annoy him. Of course he knew this was bad, but he didn’t need Louis talking to him like he was five. “Then be serious and stop quoting Dora the Explorer you prick.”

***

The next week and a half passed relatively uneventfully for Zayn where Liam was concerned. The boy kept up with his soft smiles and lingering glances. Zayn tried his hardest to ignore them; he succeeded most of the time too, by keeping his attention focused solely on the student who was reading aloud their part in Romeo and Juliet. But the times when he couldn’t help his gaze from wandering in Liam’s direction he would find the boy watching him, his face instantly shifting into a smile or a raised brow when he realised Zayn was looking at him.

There was once instance, on the Thursday after Louis had given him his rather childish warning about staying away from Liam, in which Liam had actually turned up during the last ten minutes of the lunch break to finally discuss his novel with Zayn. Zayn stayed sat behind his desk which appeared to only encourage Liam to come and lean his hip against the side of it while they talked. Other than that, Liam didn’t approach him outside of class. Zayn had to wonder if maybe Liam was getting over his infatuation with him. 

The thought of that happening made something in his gut tighten unpleasantly. 

***

It was the Friday before school broke up for the half-term break. That, in combination with the fact it was Valentine’s Day and also a non-uniform day, had most of his students chatting rather excitedly as they came into the classroom. 

Zayn was packing away no longer needed books from his previous class in the storage cupboard as his Year 13’s found their seats. When he emerged, he was greeted by a whistle from the back of the classroom.

“Lookin’ sharp, Sir.” Niall grinned. “Very impressive.”

Zayn tugged on the lapels of his blue suit jacket and smirked. “Well I can’t be coming to school in a cardigan on a non-uniform day can I? I’ll look like one of you lot.”

“You could just do what Mr. Tomlinson did, Sir.” Harry spoke up from beside Niall. “He came in uniform. He pulls off the school jumper rather well. However, looking at you now, Sir, I am compelled to point out that you and Liam are quite possibly wearing exactly the same shirt.”

Harry and a few others laughed as Zayn frowned down at himself and then looked to Liam. They did appear to be wearing the same dark grey plaid. Zayn cleared his throat and looked back at Harry. “Well I can’t fault him for his taste in clothes then can I?” He saw Liam grin out the corner of his eye. “And now, you’ll all probably be pleased to note that we are doing the last scene of Romeo and Juliet today. Who wants to be what?”

Liam and Niall picked up smaller parts. Harry on the other hand opted to play Juliet opposite Yvette’s Romeo. The whole scene had been going rather well, a slightly sombre air about the room what with Romeo lamenting Juliet’s ‘death’, his fight to the death with Paris, and finally his own death in Juliet’s tomb. The grave attitude of the class disappeared as soon as Harry burst into life with a dramatic yawn and rose out of his seat to go and kneel beside Yvette, who watched him with a bewildered expression. 

With his book held in one hand Harry grabbed for Yvette’s hand with his other. “What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end. O churl. Drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after?” He let out a sob and the class watched him in amusement. “I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison yet doth hang on them to make me die with a restorative.” He lunged forward and kissed Yvette on the cheek.

“Harry!” She swatted at him, her cheeks going scarlet.

Harry only winked at her and continued on amongst the classes’ laughter. “Thy lips are warm!” He stayed kneeling beside her as Ben, two seats behind, quickly delivered the first watchman’s line.

“Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger.” Harry let go of Yvette’s hand to snatch an invisible dagger from her desktop. He sobbed again and pretended to line it up with his heart. “This is thy sheath. There rest, and let me die.” He mimed plunged his invisible dagger into his chest and collapsed back onto the floor, flailing a little as he pretended to die. The whole class was silent for all of three seconds before erupting into laughter and cheers. Harry jumped up from the ground, gave a sweeping bow and went back to his seat and a hearty slap on the back from Niall. 

The rest of the scene was read in an, unsurprisingly, less dramatic fashion. 

The bell rang for the end of the lesson as Zayn was closing his play book. “Alright, before you go. I know you have a week off, and I know some of you couldn’t care less about studying during your break. But I hope I don’t have to remind you that you have exams when you get back. So, with that said, I would strongly recommend you take that time to revise.” He looked resignedly at his class as they gave him a non-committal murmur. “Okay then, off you go. Have a good break.” 

***

After school had let out Zayn was crouched down in one of the far aisles in the library, running a finger along the spines of books on the bottom shelf of the stack. He’d just slipped a book from the middle of the ‘M’ section when a familiar voice sounded behind him.

“Hi.” 

Zayn sucked in a quick, startled breath and stood up to face Liam. “Liam, hi.”

Liam took a step closer to him, a slightly concerned expression on his face. “Sorry. Did I surprise you?”

“No, no.” He rolled his eyes and grinned. “Yeah, a little. I thought you’d be on your way home, making the most your holiday?”

Shrugging and adjusting his bag on his shoulders Liam said, “I had some books to return, you came in just before me. I thought I’d come say goodbye.” He looked down at his feet.

“Oh.” Zayn studied him. The waves of his fringe were falling in his eyes as he looked at the ground, and the tops of his cheekbones had coloured softly. Zayn bit down on his lip and forced himself to turn back to the shelves. “I'm just picking up a few things to read over the break, novels are a nice change from marking homework.” 

Liam let out a breathy chuckle. “Yeah, I can imagine they would be.”

Silence hung between them for a few seconds before Zayn glanced at Liam and cleared his throat. “I heard something about a party tonight? One of the sixth form girls is having it.”

“Uh, yeah, it’s at Emily Walters’ place. It’s some sort of half-term Valentine’s celebration…thing. ” Zayn thought he vaguely recognised the name. “We’re going – the lads and I, and um, Megan.”

Liam had never mentioned a Megan before. Zayn felt his brow pinch together and an ugly feeling rose up in his stomach. Jealousy? “Girlfriend?”

“No.” Liam said quickly, his tone surprised and insistent. “No, she’s in my chemistry class. She asked me earlier and I said I’d go with her. I mean, she asked me in front of the lads and it just sort of seemed really horrible to say no.” He made noise like he’d said something wrong and wanted to fix it. “It’s not that she’s not a nice girl, she is. She’s lovely. But she’s not really my… _type_ , you know?”

Zayn was staring at the book in front of him, completely unfocused. Liam moved even closer, Zayn could feel him at his elbow now. His breathing became shallower and his eyes fell closed. He shouldn’t react, he had self-control. But he could hear Liam breathing. Sensing eyes on him, Zayn could only imagine how Liam must have been looking at him. This was a bold move on Liam’s part; he’d never been this close to Zayn, not even at the pub. 

His hand tightening its grip on the book he’d forgotten he was holding, Zayn turned to face Liam. They were inches apart. Zayn could feel his pulse in his throat. Liam didn’t move back. Instead, he looked Zayn in the eye, his brows raised slightly and a small, inviting smile played across his lips. His hand came up to toy with the hem of Zayn jacket.

Zayn should have moved away from him, left Liam standing there in the middle of the aisle while he went back to his car to have a freak out. He didn’t. 

Liam’s eyes dropped to follow the shifting of his throat when Zayn swallowed thickly. “Sir?” He whispered and looked back up to meet Zayn’s eyes.

Zayn’s stomach was churning and he could feel his heartbeat in his fingertips. He took a deep breath and leant forward, pressing his lips to the corner of Liam’s jaw. Liam’s skin was warm and his hint of stubble rasped across Zayn’s lips, making them prickle. Zayn felt Liam start to turn his face in towards his; he pulled back and away from Liam. He stood watching Liam until his eyes fluttered open to meet his. 

When Liam made to moved towards him again, Zayn stepped to the side. He pressed the book he was holding to Liam’s chest. Once he felt fingers touch his and he was sure Liam had the book, Zayn started down the aisle quickly. Running a hand through his hair, destroying the quiff he’d styled it in that morning, Zayn left Liam standing in the library as he went to his car to finally have his freak out.

 

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer on Chapter One :)
> 
> OMG so sorry to everyone who just got chapter 4 for a second time. I thought it was odd that I hadn't published something.

Zayn switched from looking in his rear-view mirror to looking over his shoulder as he slowly manoeuvred his car into its park. Parallel parking was never his strong suit. He pulled the front of the car into line as he reversed, then inched the car forward, praying he didn’t hit the car in front. Satisfied, and a little relieved, Zayn turned off the engine and got out of the car. After making sure it was locked, twice, Zayn made his way to the foot path, still a bit icy from the snow storm over the weekend. He walked up the street to his sister’s house, only having to steady himself once when his foot slipped from under him on a small patch of ice.

He pressed the doorbell then shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his coat. Half a minute later the sounds of locks sliding back could be heard and the front door opened to reveal Zayn’s very pregnant older sister, Doniya.

“Hiya. Ohh it’s freezing out there, get in.”

Zayn shut the door behind him, flicking one of the locks once it was closed and pulled his sister in for a hug. He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “Hi, how are you doing?”

“Alright, I’ll just be happy to get this baby out of me to be quite honest.” She unwound his scarf from his neck and hung it on the coat stand beside the door. “I’ll go make some tea. You get yourself set up in the living room.” 

After pulling off his coat and hanging it up with his scarf, Zayn bent down to undo the laces of his boots, slipping them off and setting them next to several other pairs of shoes. 

He followed his sister into the kitchen instead of going to the living room like she’d suggested. “You’re ready to have him out then? How long have you got now?”

Doniya looked up from where she was spooning sugar into their mugs. “Three weeks tomorrow, I have it marked on the calendar and everything. I think I might cry if he decides to come late. Oh, Mum brought round some biscuits yesterday, they’re in the pantry.”

“You’re definitely over this then.” Zayn laughed as he tugged open the pantry door and pulled the tin of his mum’s homemade chocolate chip biscuits towards him.

“Of course I am.” He could practically hear her roll her eyes at him. “Don’t get me wrong, the maternity leave is kind of nice, but everything hurts. My back aches, my knees ache, I can’t see my ankles right now but I'm pretty sure they’re swollen – and they ache.” She took a deep breath as Zayn set the biscuit tin on the counter next to their mugs. “Ahh, the joys of motherhood.”

Zayn wrapped his cold hands around the mug she handed him and took a small sip, the tea warming his chest as he swallowed. “But at least he’s not screaming for hours on end right now. You finally decided on a name yet or what?”

His sister scrunched up her nose and made an annoyed sound. “No, Anthony couldn’t pick this child’s name if his life depended on it. I think we might just have to decide when he’s born. If not, we’ll just call him Baby for the rest of his life.”

Zayn gasped mockingly, staring at her wide-eyed. “You can’t do that. You’d never be able to put him in a corner then.”

“Oh, ha ha, remind me why you didn’t become a comedian again?” She shoved him in the direction of the living room. “Now, I assume you have a reason, other than to see how I was doing, for coming to visit me?”

“What makes you think I have ulterior motives for this visit, hmm?” He watched as his sister carefully lowered herself down into the recliner next to the sofa he was sat on. She popped the footrest and sighed gratefully.

“Because,” she said, pulling her long, dark hair over one shoulder and fixing Zayn with a knowing look. “You asked if Anthony was going to be home. You only do that when you want to talk.”

Zayn pushed the toe of his socked foot into the carpet and shrugged. “Maybe I thoug-”

“It’s two o’clock in the afternoon on a Monday, Zayn, you knew he’d be at work.” Zayn pulled a face at her when she interrupted and raised an eyebrow at him. “Spill.”

After clearing his throat and taking a big gulp of his tea, Zayn turned in towards the armrest of the sofa to face his sister properly. He picked at his thumbnail. “Hypothetically.” He began but Doniya interrupted him again.

“But not really hypothetically, right?”

Zayn glared at her. “Just shut up and let me talk?” She raised her hands in concession and he continued on. “ _Hypothetically_ there’s this girl I'm interested in, and I'm fairly certain she’s interested in me. There’s been a lot of flirting and I kissed her once, on the cheek. But she has a, uh, a boyfriend who could really mess me up and despite that, I want to be with hi-her. I could ruin everything, I know that, and it freaks me out but at the same time I sort of find myself not caring. I don’t know what to do.”

She was looking at him thoughtfully, hands clasped around her cooling mug of tea. She took a sip. “Well, first of all, you seem to really like this girl. You should see your face. You’re trying to look all worried but you can’t quite help smiling. It’s nice. I haven’t seen you like this about someone in a while.” She smiled at him and Zayn grinned back. She was right. He hadn’t felt like this about anyone else for a long time. “Secondly, is it Louis?”

Zayn choked on the sip of tea he’d just taken. “What?” He spluttered. “Me and Lou?”

“You two have been really close since you first met. It’s not unusual to start having feelings for your best friend, Zayn.” She rubbed a soothing circle on her round belly, her eyebrows raised matter-of-factly as she looked at him.

He was still wide-eyed and his throat stung a bit from the choking. “Yeah, I know that. But I don’t want to get with Louis.” Zayn shook his head in disbelief. “He has a girlfriend, Eleanor. You’ve met her more than once.”

Doniya shrugged and bit into one of the biscuits Zayn had set on the arm of the recliner for her earlier. “Sorry, my mistake. Now that I think about, I doubt Eleanor could take you in a fight, not that you’d fight her in the first place. It is a boy though isn’t it?”

Zayn didn’t say anything to start with, he just stared at her. She didn’t look angry or upset – and she was the one to suggest he might fancy Louis. “Yeah.” He said it slowly and a small smile pulled at the corners of his sister’s mouth. 

“So it’s a boy – who isn’t Louis. But he has a boyfriend?”

“His name’s Liam, and yeah, something like that. Basically there are extenuating circumstances which mean we probably shouldn’t be together.” Zayn rubbed a hand across his jaw and hoped that was both a detailed yet vague enough reason for not being able to be with Liam. It’s not like he was going to out and tell his sister that Liam was one of his students; the looks Louis keeps shooting him were bad enough.

The smile on his sister’s face had faded and she looked at him quite seriously. “Do the other girls know?” Zayn knew she wasn’t just talking about whether or not their sister’s knew about Liam.

“Waliyha might, she came to visit me at uni once when I was seeing a guy, but Safaa doesn’t.” Suddenly Zayn reached out and took his sister’s hand in his own. He looked at her intently then said quietly “Mum and Dad definitely don’t.”

“I'm not going to tell them, Zayn.” She looked almost offended. “But maybe you should? I mean, it’s not like you never see them, and wouldn’t you rather tell them yourself than have them find out from someone else?”

Zayn tipped his head back against the sofa and grimaced. “Sorry, yeah, sorry. I know you wouldn’t tell them. I need to do it, but I think I'm going to wait.”

“To see if things work out with Liam?”

Zayn had two choices, he could tell her that realistically things with Liam were probably never going to work out – mostly due to the fact Zayn was his teacher – or, “Yeah, I’ll see if things work out first.” He smiled tightly and picked up another biscuit.

***

Zayn pulled the plug out of the sink and rinsed away some of the lingering bubbles after watching the soapy water swirl down the plughole. He’d peeled off his dish gloves and was about to grab a tea towel to dry his dinner dishes when there was a knock at his front door. Zayn frowned and walked down the hall to the door, checking his reflection quickly in the glass of a photo frame hanging on the wall.

His frown deepened when he looked through the peephole and saw Liam standing there, arms crossed in front of himself and kicking the toe of his shoe against the ground. Zayn quickly unlocked the door and pulled it open. “How do you know where I live?”

“I can use the Internet, you know. I looked you up in the White Pages.” Liam shrugged and looked at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“White Pages, right.” Zayn cocked his head to the side and rubbed at his forehead. “Uh, next question, why are you on my doorstep at nearly nine o’clock in the evening? Actually how did you even get to my doorstep? Someone would’ve had to have let you in.” 

“There was a couple coming in so I came in with them, told them I was going to see you. They have no clue who you are by the way.” Liam gave a short laugh. “I told my mum that I was staying at Harry’s tonight – I am going to, just so you know. I just thought now would be a time when you were probably home so we could talk about what happened on Friday.”

“Friday? Fuck, Liam.” Zayn face screwed up and he linked his fingers on top of his head.

Liam took a step back, looking sheepish. “If it’s not a good time I can-”

Zayn cut him off. “No, its fine. Come in.” He stepped aside to let the boy through, closing the door behind him. He watched as Liam slipped off his Chucks and pushed them up against the wall with his foot. Once Liam had turned to face him, Zayn began to talk again. “Liam, Friday was…I think we need to talk about boundaries. One of those being turning up at my flat.” 

“You kissed me.”

Zayn sighed deeply and held his hands out in front of himself, moving them as he spoke. “I know, and I shouldn’t have, therefore boundaries. But I'm not having this conversation in my hallway.”

Liam followed Zayn into the living room and stopped when he got to the middle of the room. “You _kissed_ me.”

“You need to stop saying that because I really need to start talking about boundaries.” He almost took a step back when Liam moved towards him.

“You kissed _me_ ,” Liam repeated and shifted closer to Zayn again, his eyes fixed on Zayn’s. “But I didn’t get to kiss _you_.”

He had to close his eyes. “Liam, please.” Zayn whispered and bit down on his bottom lip. He felt a hand on his shoulder and opened his eyes as it slid up the side of his neck. Liam was so close now, his eye’s roaming over Zayn’s face and his fingers splayed across the back of Zayn’s neck. The boy leant into him and Zayn felt his heartbeat speed up as Liam’s breath ghosted along his cheek. 

The kiss Liam pressed to Zayn’s cheek was high on his cheekbone. His lips were soft and a little cold from being outside, and Zayn’s breath caught in his throat when Liam dropped his hand and pulled away from him. His whole face was warm and his body felt shaky, knees buckling slightly before he locked them and stood up straight.

They stood in the middle of Zayn’s living room just staring at each other for a few long seconds before Zayn reached out and put a hand on either side of Liam’s head, fingers sliding into his loose curls. He stepped closer to Liam, so they were toe to toe, and rested his forehead against Liam’s. “I really shouldn’t even be thinking about this.” Zayn whispered weakly. “But I can’t stop. I’ve been thinking about you for weeks. What have you done to me?”

Liam smiled and his hand came up to curl around the back of Zayn’s neck once more. His other went to Zayn’s hip, sliding under the cardigan he was wearing and clinging to his t-shirt. “Probably the same thing you’ve done to me, I'm guessing.”

Zayn groaned when Liam’s thumb rubbed over his hipbone. He tangled his fingers further in Liam’s hair, tugging on it until the boy gasped. “You shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“We could get in a lot of trouble.” Liam whispered back, nodding gently, and then pushing at Zayn’s hip, delicately prodding him into moving backwards towards Zayn’s sofa. “You should send me away.”

They were nearing the sofa now, socked feet shuffling on the carpet, hips bumping occasionally as they moved. Zayn didn’t think he could let go of Liam right now even if he wanted to. “I can’t.” Zayn felt his calves hit the edge of the sofa. Liam nudged his hip once more then dragged his hand up Zayn’s side when Zayn sat down, pulling Liam with him. 

His hands were still framing Liam’s face. Zayn could feel the boy’s cheeks hot under his palms. Liam shuffled about slightly, adjusting the way his knees were on the sofa cushion before lowering himself down to sit on Zayn’s lap. Liam’s eyes had never left his face but his gaze had dropped to Zayn’s lips, the warm brown of his irises nearly lost to the black of his dilated pupils. Zayn’s tongue came out to wet his lower lip and he watched as Liam copied the movement. Zayn let out a breathy groan at that and Liam’s eyes came back up to meet Zayn’s. 

The first press of their lips was soft, chaste. Liam tilted his head down and to the side slightly to fit their lips together for a long moment. Zayn could hear his blood rushing in his ears and when Liam finally pulled away he let out a shaky breath. He pulled his hands from where they were threaded in Liam’s hair to run one down the boy’s chest then wrap around his back, fingertips pressing into Liam’s spine through the fabric of his hoodie. Zayn’s right hand moved slower, his fingers moving over Liam’s cheekbone and across his jaw; he slid a thumb over Liam’s bottom lip before letting his hand finally come to rest at Liam’s shoulder. 

Zayn wasn’t sure who moved forward first but he could feel Liam’s fingers tighten and dig in at the back of his neck as they kissed again. Their mouths sliding together wetly, the touch of Liam’s tongue against his own made Zayn push deeper into the kiss and rock his hips up. He heard Liam gasp, a high breathy sound, and the boy moved his hand from where it was curved against Zayn’s ribs to link his fingers behind Zayn’s neck.

Liam rolled his hips down into Zayn’s as they kissed. Zayn groaned, the noise getting lost in the sounds of Liam’s breathing, short, deep breaths through his nose. Zayn’s hand fell from Liam’s shoulder to the zipper on his hoodie. He dragged it down, fingers trailing along in its wake. Instead of finding the fabric of Liam’s shirt like he expected to, all Zayn felt was skin - smooth and hot and a little sweat damp. He pushed Liam back gently. “Fuck. Weren’t you freezing on your way here?”

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Liam grinned down at Zayn. “I was, but I'm a lot warmer now.” He ground his hips down into Zayn’s again, gasping when Zayn responded in kind. Zayn’s hand pushed the material of the hoodie to one side, exposing Liam’s collarbone, and he tipped his head forward to kiss the skin there. Biting down lightly on the bone, Zayn hummed a pleased noise when Liam’s back arched at the feel of his teeth. They continued to move together as Zayn sucked a bruise onto Liam’s skin, the faint salty taste of sweat on his tongue. 

He pulled back when he was satisfied Liam was marked enough then ran his hands up under Liam’s hoodie, Zayn’s fingers dancing along his ribs and up his spine. Liam crashed their mouths together quickly, setting a bruising pace with his lips and tongue that made Zayn dizzy when he couldn’t catch his breath. 

Just as quickly as he’d begun, Liam pulled back, his hands going to Zayn’s shoulders. Their hips still moving together, “I can’t stay. I have to…I have to go to Har-Harry’s. I can’t st-stay.” He gasped out, his eyes locked on Zayn’s.

Zayn bit his lip to stifle a moan before he could speak. “I wasn’t – I couldn’t ask you to.” His hips bucked when Liam let out a whimper. “It’s too soon. We can’t.”

Liam nodded and pulled his hand up to card through Zayn’s hair. Zayn felt shivers down his spine as Liam’s short nails racked along his scalp. He pulled Liam closer to him with the hands he had wrapped around Liam’s hips. Zayn rocked their bodies together, reaching up to capture the boy’s lips once more as pleasure rolled through him. He was close, and judging by the breathy groans and sighs Liam was making, he was too. 

Zayn pushed his hips forward, matching the movement with his tongue as it slid along Liam’s while they kissed desperately. Suddenly Liam was scrambling off him, falling to the floor and lying back. Zayn watched in confusion as the boy lay on his living room floor, panting harshly and pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes.

“Sorry.” He said in between breaths. “I couldn’t…I was going to…going to come and I…I don’t have anything else to wear.”

Tipping his head back against the couch, Zayn groaned and balled his hands into fists, nails biting into his palms. “It’s fine, Liam. It’s fine. I just need a minute.”

Liam pushed himself up from the floor and onto his feet. “Your bathroom?” He moved gingerly off in the direction Zayn had pointed to with a shaky hand.

Once Zayn heard the bathroom door shut he slid a hand into his sweatpants, biting his lip, trying not to make too much noise. Faintly, he could hear Liam attempting to do the same.

***

When Liam returned, Zayn was standing on the same spot on the carpet that Liam had been lying on five minutes before, car keys in hand.

“I’ll drop you at Harry’s, if you want?” 

Liam looked a little startled at that, then smiled brightly at him. “Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”

The drive over to Harry’s was quiet, apart from the occasional moments when Liam told Zayn to turn a corner. Out the corner of his eye, Zayn could see Liam glancing over at him, a small smile never leaving his lips. Stopping the car a few houses down from Harry’s, Zayn turned off the engine and twisted in his seat to face Liam.

“You do know that you shouldn’t have just turned up at my flat tonight?” Hopefully the light and shadows from the street lamps would hide how much Zayn was failing at trying to keep a serious expression.

Liam ducked his head, that smile still on his face. “I know.”

Zayn sighed and held out a hand, palm up. “Give me your phone.”

Liam looked back up at him, slightly unsure but he was reaching into his pocket anyway. “Why?” he asked as he placed it in Zayn’s waiting hand.

“Because,” Zayn wet his lips. He leant closer to Liam, like he was about to share a secret, a smile of his own playing across his lips. “If you’re going to come by again, you should probably text me first.” 

 

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer on Chapter One :)

“You know, you’re going to come home one day to find all your stuff has been nicked and I'm going to have zero sympathy for you. You need to start locking your fucking door.” Zayn locked Louis’ front door and made his way to the living room.

“And one day, people are going to start thinking you have a serious thing for locks,” Louis called out from where he lay on the sofa.

Zayn rounded the corner, took one look at Louis and rolled his eyes. “When you called me to come over and watch the footy, I wasn’t expecting to find you in nothing but your pants, Lou.” 

Louis dug his heels into the sofa cushion and arched back so he was balanced on his head and looking at Zayn, “El’s away. She doesn’t get back ‘til Wednesday.” He flopped back down, pouting.

Crossing his arms, Zayn moved towards the arm of the sofa to look down at Louis. “So you’re moping on the settee in your pants?” Zayn arched an eyebrow. He’d known Louis for two years now; he really should be used to this sort of behaviour.

“My right hand is getting boring.” Louis paused and held his hand up in the air, inspecting his palm before tipping his head back again to look up at Zayn. “I think it’s starting to chafe too. Come cuddle.”

Zayn pulled a face. “Yeah, after you’ve just told me that? I think I’ll go sit in the armchair.” He pointed across the room to the matching armchair, but Louis just flailed dramatically, kicking his heels into the cushion.

“Zayn,” he whined, dragging out Zayn’s name. “Come cuddle!” 

Zayn huffed out a sigh and rolled his eyes again before pushing at Louis’ shoulder. “Budge up then.” Louis sat up and as soon as Zayn was seated Louis lay back down, resting his head in Zayn’s lap. “I am not your surrogate girlfriend, Tomlinson. Christ, you get so fucking clingy when Eleanor’s away. Clingy and little bit gay – well, more gay,” he corrected, because there really was no denying it; Louis was rather camp a lot of the time.

Louis shuffled about until he was comfortable and Zayn automatically brought a hand up to card gently through Louis’ hair. He watched as Louis flicked lazily through the channels, stopping for a few moments on a panel show. “S’alright though, because you’re a bit gay too. Speaking of- ”

Zayn froze; Louis hadn’t brought up Liam in a few weeks. He was sort of expecting it, honestly. Term started back up again on Monday and it meant Zayn would once again be back with Liam. Perhaps Louis thought now was a good time to mention that he still thought Zayn was being reckless. But Louis didn’t say anything about Liam.

“-gets back on Wednesday right? Well she was thinking that you and her friend Rebecca would really hit it off, and she wants us all to go for drinks on Saturday night.” Louis looked up at him expectantly. 

“Sorry, what?” Zayn didn’t quite understand what was happening.

Rolling his eyes, Louis began to repeat himself, “Eleanor’s friend Rebecca, she thinks you’d-”

“Yeah, no, I know what she thinks, I heard you,” Zayn interrupted. “I'm just trying to work out how me being a bit gay and Eleanor’s friend are related. Because, unless she has a penis, that’s not ‘speaking of’, Lou.”

Louis shrugged in his lap, digging his shoulders slightly into Zayn’s thighs. “I needed a lead in; I didn’t want to bring it up out of the blue.”

“You might as well have, that was a shit lead in.” He frowned down at Louis. “Are you also forgetting the part where I'm ‘a bit gay’ at the moment?”

Louis sat up properly and turned to face Zayn, his expression serious. “Yeah, well, of course I know that. But El doesn’t, and I'm certainly not going to tell her about the little ‘problem’ you have right now. So just come for drinks on Saturday and humour her. Humour _me_. Please.”

He stared at the television, but out the corner of his eye he could see Louis still looking at him. Zayn sighed. So obviously Louis wasn’t going to bring up Liam directly. Maybe he was just hoping Zayn’s feelings would burn themselves out? Either way, Zayn knew what he had to do. “What time on Saturday?”

***

The aim of the first week back after break was to study for the upcoming exams. It had apparently been realised by the faculty, finally, that a week off from school did not mean a week of studying, no matter how close an exam loomed. 

Zayn was marking holiday homework from some of his younger students while his Year 13’s quietly went over some last minute prep. His phone buzzed, rattling against the bottom of the drawer he had it sitting in. He pulled open the drawer to check it. It was a message from Liam. 

Zayn’s head shot up and he quickly surveyed the class. For the most part, they were ignoring him; talking quietly in twos or threes, hopefully about their coursework, or they were acting as Niall was. Zayn watched the boy bob his head along to the music he was listening to through his earphones as he wrote notes, stopping to perform a drum solo in the air with his pens before continuing on with his notes like nothing had happened. Zayn’s eyes glanced over to Liam, but the boy had his head down, bent over his work.

The phone lit up again and buzzed in his hand, a reminder for the waiting text message. He and Liam had been texting a bit during the break, just little things like asking how each other’s day was going or discussing the merits of fruit toast over normal toast. Sometimes, Zayn would find pictures waiting for him. Generally they were showing the progress of study notes or a cat he assumed belonged to Liam’s family. But once, at about 10:30 in the evening as he sat in bed reading, he got a picture of Liam. 

He’d opened the message, expecting to see a picture of the tail-end of Whiskers the cat, with Buzz or Woody perched precariously on her back. Instead, he was greeted with the image of Liam’s face. The picture was slightly grainy and the flash on Liam’s phone had washed out the colour, but there he was, lying in bed, his half-curls fanning out around his head on the pillow. There was a soft, sleepy smile on Liam’s face and his eyelids were hooded in a way that had made Zayn want to kiss them.

Up in the top corner, Zayn could see the feet of Buzz and Woody, propped up beside Liam’s pillow - he’d smiled at that. But it was what he could see in the bottom of the frame that made his breath hitch and his grip on the phone tighten. 

The bruise Zayn had sucked onto his collarbone was brought into stark relief thanks to the flash on Liam’s phone. Zayn had stared at it, flooded with memories of putting it there, his mouth against Liam’s warm skin. How Liam clutched at him as they rutted together. 

Zayn was snapped out of his reverie by his message alert. It was a second message from Liam. Zayn’s eyes flicked up to Liam again, but he was still hunched over his desk, orange highlighter cap between his teeth. Taking a quick, fortifying breath, Zayn opened the first message he’d received.

_New Message!_  
From: L.P.  
Message: I had a dream about you last nite… 

He could feel his heart start to pound a little in his chest. Liam should not be sending him messages like this during class. Zayn stared at the screen a bit longer before closing it. He hesitated slightly about opening the second message. What if it was worse?

_New Message!_  
From: L.P.  
Message: it was like last week. The end was a bit diff tho. I think id like to suck u off 

“Jesus,” Zayn breathed and quickly exited out of the message, glancing furtively around himself as if someone was watching. Liam _definitely_ shouldn’t be sending him messages like this in class, especially while he’s in them. He should delete it, he should delete everything. What if someone found his phone? If Louis found his phone… his ideas of personal space were a bit lax at the best of times, going through Zayn’s phone would be nothing new. Everything on there was incriminating enough without having Liam tell him he wanted to give him a blow job. Zayn slipped his phone into his pocket. It wasn’t going to leave his sight until he got home. 

A glance at the clock told him that the lesson was almost over. Zayn clapped his hands, pulling his student attention towards him.

“Alright, we’ve got about five minutes, you can go if you want.” Some of his students made small sounds of delight as everyone started to pack up and file out of the room. As usual, Harry, Niall, and Liam were the last leaving. Zayn stood up and walked over to the door, placing a hand on the handle. “Liam, a word please? He can catch up, Niall, he won’t be long.”

Niall shrugged and pulled Harry along by his shirtsleeve, pushing his friend away as they headed down different hallways. Zayn shut the door after scanning the area for anyone who could possibly overhear.

“You wanted to speak to me, Sir?” With a cheeky grin on his face, Liam moved towards Zayn, already tilting his head to the side gently in preparation for a kiss.

Zayn stepped back and frowned. The change in Liam’s demeanour was immediate. His face fell and he shifted back, clearly uncomfortable. “Are you finishing with me?” Liam brought a hand up to rub along his collarbone, over the spot Zayn had marked. 

“No, I-” Zayn reached a hand out, trying to grasp the one hanging at Liam’s side but the boy pulled it away.

Liam looked down at his shoes. “If you want to, just tell me. I'm not going to say anything, I promise. You’re a good teacher. I couldn’t do that to you. Besides, I was the one who-”

“Liam.” Zayn’s tone was forceful and it tore Liam’s gaze away from his shoes to look up at Zayn. His eyes looked a bit wet and Zayn’s heart broke slightly. He took a step towards Liam, reaching his hand up again, this time without Liam pulling away. “I'm not ending things.”

He watched the light come back into Liam’s eyes and felt the boy’s warm fingers curl around his. “You’re not?”

“No,” Zayn whispered, a smile picking at the corners of his mouth. Liam smiled too, biting gently on the edge of his lip. “But, you can’t kiss me in school. And this, us,” he gestured between the two of them absently with his hand, “I think we should pause it, for want of a better word, just until your exams are over. I won’t have you being distracted by me and messing up your chances of getting into a good uni.”

Liam pulled a face like he wanted to disagree, but ended up nodding and squeezing Zayn’s hand. “That’s nearly two weeks, that’s quite a while. Do I get some sort of incentive?” His cheeky smirk was back. 

Zayn rolled his eyes. “Yes, you do. An A is your incentive.”

“Fine,” Liam sighed. 

All in all Zayn thought Liam was taking the sudden embargo on their relationship rather well. Relationship; the thought made something in Zayn’s stomach tighten. Were they even in a relationship? Surely not, everything was still too new. They hadn’t discussed anything; they hadn’t even mentioned the word ‘boyfriend’. 

“Boyfriend?” Liam was staring at him wide-eyed. Zayn frowned at him, and Liam clarified when he realised Zayn was confused. “You just said ‘boyfriend’ really, really quietly. Was I not meant to hear that?” 

He could feel his face getting warm. Liam definitely wasn’t supposed to hear that. Zayn wasn’t even supposed to have said it aloud, no matter how quietly. “Sorry.” Zayn brought the hand that wasn’t holding Liam’s to rub at the back of his neck. “I was just thinking. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

But Liam didn’t look freaked out. Instead, he was grinning widely, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Well, I suppose it’s better than ‘illicit paramour’. And, it means you’re not planning on chucking me aside anytime soon, that’s a nice bit of confidence.”

“You’re alright with that?” Zayn asked as he searched Liam’s face. Liam nodded. “Okay, good. I think we can discuss that more in two weeks though. I'm definitely not wanting to get rid you, I don’t think I could even if I tried. But there is something.”

Liam’s smile dropped a bit, turning more curious. “Something like what?” he asked and Zayn took a breath.

He stroked his thumb over the back of Liam’s hand. “I'm going out on Saturday. Louis’ girlfriend thinks I’d like her friend, so we’re going on a double date.” Liam was frowning at him now, looking a bit hurt and possibly slightly jealous. “I'm sorry, I have to do it. El knows nothing about any of this, she thinks I'm straight. And I'm treading some slightly dangerous water with Louis at the moment. Nothing’s going to happen, I can promise you that, but I do have to go.”

Liam looked away from him, sucking in a few deep breaths and looking like he was working something out in his head. “Is that why you want to wait two weeks?”

“No. That, Liam, that _is_ about your exams.” He stepped closer to Liam, hands still tangled together and their chests almost flush. “I want you. Just you,” he whispered in Liam’s ear, then pressed a soft kiss to his neck. Liam sighed, and Zayn could see the tension leave his body.

“Okay.” There was no resignation colouring his tone; he seemed to be truly okay with it. “But I do hope you realise you just broke your ‘no kissing in school’ rule.”

Zayn groaned. He pulled away from Liam and pressed his hands to his face. “I know. Which is why you are going to go to class, so I don’t do it again.”

Liam gave him a small smile and flicked his eyes to the clock. “I'm going to need a note then, Sir.”

***

He arrived at the bar fifteen minutes after he was supposed to. Louis had texted him five minutes ago telling him he was late, but it wasn’t Zayn’s fault his mum had called him.

“Sorry, I couldn’t get mum off the phone,” Zayn pressed a kiss to Eleanor’s cheek before sitting down beside the woman he assumed would be Rebecca. “She’s starting to freak out about becoming a grandmother, doesn’t think she’s old enough yet or something.”

Eleanor smiled and took a sip of her wine. “She says that now, but when the baby’s born, it’ll be the best thing that’s ever happened. Zayn, this is Rebecca.” She pointed to the woman Zayn had just sat down beside.

Zayn turned to her and held out a hand, shaking it politely when Rebecca brought her hand to meet his. “Hi. Zayn, but you know that. So, you work with El?”

She smiled and took her hand back to take a sip of her drink, leaving red lipstick around the rim. “Yeah, sometimes, we were just away together. She said you teach at the same school as Louis?”

Zayn raised his eyebrows quickly in confirmation. “I teach English Lit. Um, I should go and get a drink. I'm only going to have a couple, driving. So, I’ll be back in a second.”

As he waited to be served, Zayn watched Rebecca and his friends talk. She was pretty. Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders and the dark tone of her skin contrasted nicely with the sheer white blouse she was wearing. If he wasn’t off the market, he might have gone there.

After he returned with his beer, the four of them chatted amiably for a couple of hours. Eventually, Eleanor pulled Louis away to dance, saying something about leaving Zayn and Rebecca to get to know each other better. Zayn watched them walk away before he turned back to Rebecca.

“Do you want another one? My shout.” She pointed to the empty glass Zayn was fiddling with.

Zayn shook his head. “I shouldn’t. I’ve already had three.”

Rebecca nodded, “Oh yeah, you’re driving. Do you want to dance then?” The coloured lights in the bar shone off her hair, streaking it green and blue.

“Not really much of a dancer. Sorry.”

They sat in a slightly awkward silence for a few minutes. It seemed that without Eleanor and Louis the conversation between them didn’t flow very freely. A part of that, Zayn thought, was that he didn’t want to give Rebecca the wrong idea. He toyed with his empty glass again, tipping it on its edge and watching the dregs of beer on the bottom move around. 

“I'm wasting my time, aren’t I?”

Zayn looked up. “What?” he blinked at her.

She sighed and set her hands on the table, pulling them back quickly when she realised it was a bit sticky. “This isn’t going anywhere, is it?”

He grimaced and set his glass down on the table properly. “Sorry. It’s not like – you’re lovely, pretty, and normally I’d jump at the chance but-”

“But you have a secret girlfriend or something?” She didn’t sound put out, there was mostly just curiosity in her tone.

Zayn ran his fingers through the short hair on the side of his head. “Yeah,” His hand dropped to his ear and he spun his earring between his fingers. “Something like that.”

She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, head tilted to the side as she chewed on the inside of her lip. “A secret boyfriend?” she asked finally, eyebrows raised in question.

“That’s more like it.” Zayn couldn’t help them small smile that formed on his face at the thought of Liam. Only a week left now. 

Rebecca stood then, pulling her handbag strap onto her shoulder. “I’ll just go and tell the lovebirds we’re leaving. No use hanging around if we’re just going to be some two-person third-wheel.” Zayn nodded and she started making her way towards the dance floor where Louis and Eleanor were kissing and dancing a bit too slow for the beat of the music.

They parted ways outside the bar. Zayn considered offering her a ride home, but Rebecca was already off down the footpath, phone stuck to her ear as she headed for a waiting taxi.

***

The whole following week Zayn barely saw Liam, understandable due to Liam having exams. He’d sent texts wishing Liam luck and received a confident ‘ _thank you :D_ ’ every time except for the picture of his harried looking face Zayn got before Liam’s chemistry exam.

Liam didn’t text him at all on Friday. And, if Zayn was being honest, he went to bed that night feeling a little put out. 

The shrill ringing of his mobile woke him. Zayn groaned and briefly considered chucking the offending device across the room before his head cleared and he thought it might be Anthony calling because his sister had gone into labour.

He picked up is phone and pushed the answer key, barely looking at the name flashing on the screen. “Hello?” he slurred out, his speech still a bit sleep addled.

“Zayn! Look, I'm really sorry for calling so late, but could you come pick us up?”

The voice on the phone sounded slightly panicked. Zayn shook his head to clear the last of his sleepiness. “Liam? What? Pick you up, what’s wrong?”

“We were at a party – Harry, sit up. Everyone was really drunk and there was a fight, so we ran. But in the wrong direction and now Niall’s close to passing out and Harry has a bloody nose. And I didn’t know who to ring, because I can’t ring my parents, and it doesn’t matter how cool Harry’s mum is about things, I doubt she’d appreciate picking up her drunken son and his friends at three in the morning.” Liam paused to suck in a breath. “So I called you. Please, can you pick us up?”

Zayn was halfway out of bed and into his sweatpants before he answered. “Where are you? Does Harry need anything for his nose?”

Liam breathed a sigh of relief down the phone. Zayn could imagine him standing, eyes closed with the heel of his hand pressed to his furrowed brow. “Harry should be okay, his t-shirt is doubling as a tissue. We’re just past the train station.” 

“Okay, I'm on my way. Stay where you are, keep your phone in your hand. I’ll call when I'm closer.” Zayn locked his front door behind him and headed for the stairs.

“Thank you,” Liam whispered and hung up.

Zayn called him back just before he reached the train station, he slowed the car as he held the phone to his ear and peered out the windows into the darkness. 

“Hi.” Liam sounded calmer now. “I can see head lights. Is that you?”

He drove forward more and spotted Liam standing in the pool of light given off by a street lamp. “Yeah, I can see you, hold on.”

They didn’t say anything else, Zayn just listen to Liam breathe, finally hanging up when he pulled up beside the boys. He left the car running and got out. He moved quickly around the car to Liam, who was now crouched beside a mostly unconscious Niall.

Liam looked up at him, “Can you help me get him into the car?”

“Of course,” He bent down and threaded an arm under Niall’s as Liam did the same. “On three. One. Two. Three and up” 

Niall groaned and stumbled when they pulled him up. It took him a second to get his legs under him but he ended up helping Zayn and Liam walk him to the car. They tucked him carefully into the back seat and Liam leant over to do up the seat belt for him.

“I don’t think he’s going to be sick,” Liam said, looking at Niall a touch warily, “but perhaps we should roll down the window?”

Zayn did so as Liam went over to Harry before making his way over himself. Harry was propped up against the street lamp, his t-shirt rucked up around his chest and the end of it pressed to his face.

“Still bleeding then?” Zayn crouched down and placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder. The boy looked at him glassy eyed and slightly confused.

“Sir?” The word was slurred and muffled by his bloody t-shirt.

Zayn winced. He could already see the purple of bruising under Harry’s eyes. He must have taken the punch straight on to end up with two black-eyes. “Hiya, Harry. Let’s get you up, yeah, and we’ll take you back…” Zayn looked over to Liam. “Where are we going?”

Liam was pulling Harry up, steadying him with and arm around his waist. “Niall’s. I should be able to deal with them by myself once we get there, and Harry is more sober than Niall. If I do need help, he can do it.”

He guided Harry to the car and helped him into the seat next to Niall. Harry managed to do his own seatbelt, tucking the chest strap awkwardly under his arms so he could still hold his ruined t-shirt to his face. Liam shut the door and went to his own. He stopped, fingers resting on the handle.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered, head hanging down like he was ashamed.

Zayn wanted to wrap his arms around Liam’s waist, pull the boy tightly against him, and whisper back reassurances. But the two boys sitting in the back seat of his car put a stop to that. Instead, he put a hand on Liam’s shoulder, letting his fingertips dip into the collar of his shirt. “It’s fine, Liam. You did the right thing. They’re going to get home safely and that’s what matters.” Zayn gave Liam’s shoulder a squeeze before pulling his hand away and moving around the car to the driver’s side. “But you are going to tell me how Harry ended up in the state he’s in.”

Liam turned around in his seat a few times to fuss over either of the boys when they groaned or murmured something, but he didn’t say anything to Zayn again until they had been driving for a few minutes. He righted himself in his seat and picked at his thumbnail before glancing across at Zayn.

“Right, so Harry.”

Looking at Liam quickly then back to the road, Zayn said quietly, “Yes, Harry. What happened?”

Liam paused, seeming like he was deciding best how to go about telling his story. “We were at Cher’s party, everything was going okay. Niall was having a bit of liquid courage to ask her to dance. I think he fancies her a bit.” He shrugged and picked at his jeans. “But anyway, Harry’s friend Ed showed up, and he wanted us to go to a different party. We didn’t know them, Ed did, and Harry thought he did. So we went; it wasn’t too far to walk. 

“It was a bit weird, because we didn’t know anyone. So Niall and I just sat on the sofa for ages. Harry had disappeared somewhere with Ed, and then, all of sudden, there was yelling and stuff being broken. I don’t know, so I got up to check it out, maybe find Harry and leave. I found him in the kitchen, on the floor, having just been punched in the nose. I thought it was because he’d been caught snogging the guy’s girlfriend. It wasn’t his girlfriend. It was his mum.”

Zayn choked out a shocked laugh. He looked at Liam, eyes wide. “His mum? Harry snogged this guy’s mum?”

“Yeah, I know.” A reluctant smile crept onto Liam’s face. He tried to force it down but ended up chuckling along with Zayn. “So we ran. We got as far as the train station before I realised we’d gone the wrong way, and that was about when those two just became useless. Then I called you, and here we are.”

“Yes, we are. This is Niall’s house right?” Zayn slowed the car to a stop when Liam nodded. “You sure you don’t need help getting them inside?”

Liam looked at him carefully for a moment before shaking his head. “Best not, probably.” He glanced into the backseat and lowered his voice. “But wait here, I’ll come back out.”

Zayn did help Liam get Niall out of the car and over to where Harry was waiting on the footpath. He watched as the three boys staggered up to the front door, Liam fumbling with Niall’s keys slightly then going inside. Zayn got back in his car and waited. He scrubbed a hand over his face then looked at the time on his phone. He narrowed his eyes against the bright light from the screen and groaned miserably when he saw the time read 3:52. Tipping his head back against the head rest, he closed his eyes, opening them once again when the passenger side door opened.

Sighing, Liam slid into the seat and twisted to face Zayn. He still looked a bit embarrassed. Zayn brought a hand up to rub a thumb across the boy’s cheekbone. “I'm really sorry, again.”

“Liam, stop apologising. I'm just happy you’re okay. If you need me, you call me, that’s how this works.”

Liam pressed his face further into Zayn’s hand then smiled softly at him. “Speaking of ‘this’, my exams are done.”

Slipping his hand further back, Zayn slid his fingers into Liam’s hair and gently pulled him forward. A smile of his own was turning up the corners of his mouth. “They are. How do you think you went?”

“Well, I wasn’t distracted while I was studying so I think they went rather well.” Liam had a hand on the side of Zayn’s seat now, keeping him balanced as he leant towards Zayn. He placed his other hand on Zayn’s thigh, fingertips digging in lightly. “Can I see you tomorrow?”

Zayn swallowed then surged forward, catching Liam’s lips with his own. God, he’d missed this, and they’d only done it on one other occasion. Liam’s mouth parted under his and Zayn traced along the edges of Liam’s teeth with his tongue before pulling back. “Yeah,” he breathed and rested his forehead against Liam’s.

One last, chaste kiss and Liam was slipping out of Zayn’s grasp and the car, waving when he got to the front door before disappearing inside. 

 

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer on Chapter One :)

_New Message!_  
From: L.P.  
Message: im outside :) 

_To: L.P.  
Message: Door code is c2496_

Zayn set his phone down and did a quick scan of the room. It was tidy; he’d busied himself with cleaning up his flat earlier so that he wouldn’t sneak any nervous cigarettes. 

The knock on the door made his stomach flip. Honestly, he’s not a teenager anymore, so why does the thought of Liam standing just outside his door make him feel like one? Zayn went to answer the door, checking all of the buttons on his cardigan were done up correctly. Liam was smiling when Zayn opened the door and Zayn couldn’t help but grin back at him, feeling the nervousness in his stomach dissipate. 

“Hi.” Zayn stepped back and let Liam into his flat. 

Liam didn’t respond. Instead, he dropped the backpack he had slung over one shoulder onto the floor and stepped into Zayn’s space. Tipping his head to the side, Liam caught Zayn’s lips with his own. The kiss quickly turned a little messy after Liam licked into Zayn’s mouth when his lips parted, his tongue curling around Zayn’s. Liam’s hands drifted from where he’d had them on Zayn’s hips to pluck at the buttons on his cardigan.

It was about then that Zayn realised he was still holding his front door open and just about anyone in his building could walk by. With a push of his hand, he tried to shut the door. He didn’t hear it latch but at least now no one could see them. Zayn slipped his hands around Liam’s waist just as Liam pulled back.

Liam sighed contentedly. “Mmm, hello.” His smile was a little smug. Zayn couldn’t help but lift a hand to Liam’s face. Palm settling on Liam’s cheek, Zayn brushed a thumb over his bottom lip, letting it pull slightly before stepping out of Liam’s embrace.

Zayn scooted around Liam to close the door properly, flicking the lock before he leant back against it and sighed. “Alright, we should order dinner and then you can tell me how much I have to up Harry’s grade by.” 

“By nothing, I should imagine.” Liam shrugged, rising up on his toes slightly as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He threw Zayn a happy smile and turned on his heel, wandering off to the living room.

Face pinched in confusion, Zayn followed him. “What do you mean nothing? So he doesn’t know; you didn’t tell him?”

“He does.” Zayn’s stomach twisted unpleasantly. Liam’s calmness as he curled up in one corner of the sofa was really the only thing keeping Zayn from freaking out. “I'm pretty sure he’s fine with it. I mean, he sort of has no grounds not to be, he snogs people’s mums. Also I think he’s a bit proud of me for - and this is a quote - ‘using my penis with another person.’” 

“Proud…of you?” He stood in the middle of the living room and peered down at Liam, trying to understand what he just said. Liam didn’t say anything, just nodded, and Zayn took a deep breath. “So you told him. You didn’t just try and make something up and hope he’d believe you?”

Liam pulled his sleeves down over his hands. “I did start to, but I couldn’t.” He looked almost apologetic. “And…and I know I probably should have discussed it with you first, but Harry’s become one of my best friends. I didn’t want to lie to him.”

Zayn realised then that he couldn’t expect Liam to carry a secret like this around by himself. Even Zayn had Louis – he might not agree, or know the whole story, but at least Zayn had him. Licking his lips, Zayn nodded slowly. “No, it’s fine, Liam. You should have someone other than me to talk to about this,” he paused. “What about Niall?” he asked sharply.

“Clueless. He doesn’t remember much of last night, and he spent all of this morning with his head in the loo.” Liam smiled and pushed himself up off the couch. He walked over and took Zayn’s hands in his own, lacing their fingers together. “You need to stop freaking out, please. It’s going to be fine, Harry won’t tell Niall anything without my permission, he promised. But I am going to tell him, Zayn, just not right away.”

Biting his lip, Zayn stared at Liam. He seemed to be very mature about this. Zayn would have felt ashamed that he was panicking over this but, if this got out, it was Zayn’s career on the line; his apprehension was justified. Of course, he knew Liam would have to tell Niall the truth at some point. Zayn nodded once and Liam smiled wider, leaning into Zayn’s chest and burying his face against his throat.

After placing a soft kiss against the skin of Zayn’s throat, Liam pulled back. “Now, you said something about ordering dinner?”

***

Zayn came back from putting their leftover food in the fridge, dropping ungracefully into his seat and kicking his legs out in front of him. Almost instantly, Liam shifted into his space, spreading himself along the sofa and half-leaning against Zayn’s chest, tucking his head down onto his shoulder. Hair tickled his skin when Zayn rested his cheek against Liam’s head and he wound an arm around him, slinging it across his hips.

It was nice, sitting with Liam watching some inane comedy film they’d discovered flicking through the channels while they ate. He couldn’t help but smile when Liam chuckled quietly at the screen; Zayn tried to focus on the film, but he kept getting too caught up in feeling the rise and fall of Liam’s breathing under his hand and the way his stomach muscles contracted when he laughed.

On the screen someone threw a punch and it occurred to Zayn he’d forgotten to ask after Harry’s face. He scratched a finger lightly on Liam’s hip to get his attention. “I didn’t ask, how’s Harry doing, how’s his face?”

Liam brought his hand up to idly toy with Zayn’s fingers while he talked. “Harry woke up with two very black eyes, convinced his nose was crooked.”

Zayn made a sympathetic sound and curled his fingers around Liam’s, trapping them. “Was it?”

“No, I just think he’s having a sulk because he’s not going to be as pretty as usual for a few weeks.” He tugged his fingers free of Zayn’s and wriggled them triumphantly. 

Zayn huffed out a soft laugh. “Should I be jealous you think Harry’s pretty?” he asked playfully.

Liam twisted around, climbing onto his knees and sliding a hand up the inside of Zayn’s thigh. “Oh, terribly jealous.” He shook his head, a cheeky smile on his face. “I think once his face heals, I’ll leave you for him.”

Zayn leant forward and kissed Liam, just a quick press of lips that was over before Liam had any real time to react. “It’s probably bad I'm hoping he has black eyes forever then, but…” Zayn trailed off shrugging and Liam laughed, squeezing his thigh. Zayn pushed his hips up slightly into the touch and kissed Liam again. This time Liam moved into the kiss, parting his lips almost straight away but Zayn pulled back, tugging at Liam’s lower lip with his teeth as he did so. “Bed?” 

“I like that you assumed I'm staying the night,” Liam said as he pulled Zayn off the sofa by his hand.

Frowning, Zayn looked in the direction of the front door. “I saw your bag, I just thought…you’re messing with me.” Liam was grinning and shaking his head at him. Zayn shoved him gently on the shoulder. “Dick. Your parents think you’re at Harry’s then?”

“Nah, it’s their wedding anniversary so they’re away for the weekend, they’re back tomorrow evening.”

Zayn wrapped his arms around Liam’s waist. “I’ll make sure to have you home at a reasonable hour tomorrow then. Come on, I’ll show you the bedroom.” He pecked Liam quickly on the lips and linked their fingers. Using their joined hands, Zayn tugged Liam out into the hallway, stopping to let him collect his backpack before pulling him down the hall. He’d pushed open his bedroom door and was halfway through it before he was tugged to a stop by an unmoving Liam. He was stood in the hall, his and Zayn’s arms stretched out between them, looking uncertainly at his shoes.

“What’s up?” For all the confidence Liam had shown thus far in their relationship, just tonight even, he was looking quite unsure of himself now. Zayn came to stand in front of him, tipping Liam’s head up with two fingers under his chin. “Liam, you okay?”

Liam chewed at his lip and sighed like he was frustrated with himself. “No, it’s fine. I'm just being silly. Let’s go to bed, yeah?” He tried to move past, but Zayn caught him with an arm around the waist.

“Hey, no.” He ducked his head to catch Liam’s eye. “We’re not going anywhere until you tell me what’s wrong. Do you want to go home? It’s okay if you do.”

Liam shook his head, and Zayn watched as his cheeks flushed, the colour sitting high on his cheekbones. “I don’t want to go home. It’s just I’ve never…” he took a breath, puffing out his cheeks as he exhaled. “I’ve never had a boyfriend before. I haven’t…with girls, I have with girls. But not…” he trailed off, meeting Zayn’s eye quickly before focusing on the wall behind him instead.

Zayn took a moment to force down the feeling of irrational jealousy that had spiked through him at the thought of Liam with some girl. “It’s alright,” he said, voice going soft as he rubbed his hands soothingly down Liam’s arms. “We don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for. I don’t…expect anything from you. I want you to be comfortable, and if that means just having a cuddle and going to sleep, that’s fine.” He slowly leant forward and dropped a soft kiss to Liam’s cheek. He could feel the warmth of his fading blush and the way his face pulled up into a smile.

“Thank you. I didn’t really expect you to react any differently than you have. Slight moment of panic, I'm fine, really. But I did want you to know.” Then something in Liam’s smile changed, becoming more of a smirk. “And I’ve barely touched you for two weeks, Zayn. I _don’t_ just want to cuddle and go to sleep.” He hooked a finger into the waistband of Zayn’s jeans, tugging at it and biting at his lip.

***

The room was quiet but for the sound of their breathing, and Zayn looked over at his iPod. “I could put some music on?” he suggested, already walking towards his bedside table to fiddle with the device.

Liam came up behind him, wrapping his arms around Zayn’s waist and resting his chin on his shoulder to watch as Zayn scrolled through the songs. “But nothing that makes it sound like we’re in a porn film, yeah?”

“And I had just the playlist too. What about some Marvin Gaye then? _Let’s get it on, sugar, let’s get on_ ,” he crooned softly; Liam buried his face against the back of his neck, shaking with laughter. Zayn clicked his tongue and tried to sound affronted. “That is a seduction classic, I’ll have you know.”

“Yeah, if you’re our parents’ age. Come on, just put on something nice.” He kissed the nape of Zayn’s neck and tickled his fingers teasingly under the hem of his t-shirt. “I want to start undressing you.”

Quickly settling on something soft and non-distracting, Zayn swivelled to face Liam. He kissed him, long and slow, licking into Liam’s mouth as he skated his hands up under Liam’s shirt. They separated as Zayn pulled the shirt up over Liam’s head, dropping it at their feet.

Liam’s hands flitted to the hem of Zayn’s t-shirt again before twitching it up, revealing more and more of his torso as the material rose. He watched as Liam’s eyes travelled up his body and then as they dropped back down to spend a second more on the tattoo at his hip. His vision was obscured when Liam tugged Zayn’s shirt over his head, but when he could see again, Liam was staring at his collarbone. Fingers came up to trace along the lines of ink curving across his skin.

“I thought you might have had more than just the one on your wrist.” He looked up at Zayn, fingers still pressed to his skin.

“I'm thinking of getting more, not quite sure what though.” Zayn lifted a hand to grasp Liam’s and pulled it down to his belt buckle. It took Liam a second to realise that Zayn meant for him to undo it, that they weren’t playing one-for-one with items of clothing. 

Zayn’s fingers drifted up Liam’s forearms as he worked at his jeans. He tipped forward to mouth down Liam’s neck when he finally got them undone, slipping the fabric down Zayn’s thighs to pool at his feet. 

Liam’s fingers hovered over the waistband of Zayn’s boxers, just grazing where the edge of the material met his skin. He licked at his lips and looked up at Zayn. 

Looking back at him, Zayn lifted an eyebrow, silently asking him what he wanted. Liam tipped forward quickly and kissed him before pulling back and working at his own jeans. A blush bloomed across his face when he realised he’d not taken off his trainers and his jeans got caught around his ankles. “Oh. Shit.”

“It’s okay, happens to the best of us.” Smiling gently, Zayn knelt down and helped Liam out of his shoes. He smiled a little more when Liam’s finger threaded into his hair, using his head to balance as he stepped out of his jeans. 

When he was stood up again, Zayn took hold of Liam’s hips and turned him, walking him backwards a few steps until he was at the edge of the bed. “Get comfortable,” Zayn murmured and Liam dropped down, pulling himself onto the bed and lying there, head propped on a pillow. 

Zayn took a moment to look at him and think how beautiful he was, letting his eyes wander down Liam’s body. Liam was bulkier than he was, even at just eighteen. Comparatively, Zayn was almost delicate, with his more pronounced collarbones and thin wrists. But then they did have different builds; Liam was broader in the shoulders, the muscles under his skin heavier and slightly more defined, like he put actual effort into keeping fit. 

He knelt onto the mattress beside Liam and curled over him, capturing his lips in a kiss. Zayn waited until Liam was kissing him back with long, lazy strokes of his tongue against Zayn’s, high breathy sounds coming from him every so often as one of Zayn’s hands drifted over his ribs. He pulled away and Liam grinned around a contented sigh. He loved it when Liam smiled, eyes crinkly at the corners.

Slowly, he moved down Liam’s body, open-mouthed kisses following in the wake of his fingertips as they trailed over his chest and stomach. He sucked a bruise onto Liam’s collarbone, almost in the same place as last time, and Liam clutched at him, fingers gripping uselessly at his shoulder blade or curling into his hair. Zayn could hear and feel Liam’s breathing deepen, quick breathe being pulled in then exhaled with a sighing groan, his chest rising and falling under Zayn’s hands and mouth with each one. 

After finishing with Liam’s collarbone, Zayn shuffled further down the bed. He slung an arm across Liam’s thighs and set about kiss-biting another bruise onto the soft skin by his hip. 

Ever since Liam sent him the picture of himself lying in bed – the picture Zayn still hadn’t deleted off his phone – the idea that Liam would be left with reminders of their encounters for days afterwards had sent a thrill through Zayn.

He sucked hard at Liam’s hip, swirling his tongue over his skin soothingly after he nipped at it with his teeth. Liam had jolted at that, unable to go far with the arm pinning him down, but he groaned and his grip on Zayn’s hair tightened.

Zayn looked up and found Liam staring at him with hooded eyes, his lips, bitten a dark pink, curved into a smile. Liam’s thigh shifted under his arm and Zayn swept his eyes back down, alighting on the bulge straining the fabric of Liam’s boxer-shorts. Pulling his legs under him, Zayn sat up. His fingers went to Liam’s waistband, plucking at it. He looked back up at Liam.

“Is this okay?” he asked carefully. Liam only nodded, still smiling. “Do you want to keep going?”

Liam seemed to realise that Zayn needed verbal confirmation. “Yes,” he breathed, “Please.” He propped himself up onto an elbow, beckoning Zayn forward with his other hand. He kissed at the corner of Zayn’s mouth before moulding their lips together. 

Zayn reached out, slipping his fingers around the handle of his beside drawer and pulled it open. He scrabbled around blindly, his lips still sliding against Liam’s, until his fingers curled around the tube he was searching for. He pulled back from Liam, their lips separating with a wet sound, and sat back on his heels. He held up the tube for Liam to see.

“Lube?” Liam asked while eyeing the tube and Zayn suddenly became hyper-aware that it was half empty. “Do you want to…because I'm not sure I…”

“No, no. Not until you’re ready.” Zayn rubbed a hand over Liam’s stomach and he felt the muscles there relax. “It’s just for smoothing the way. A lot better than spit, and I prefer it over the hand cream or whatever I used to knick from my mum.”

Liam made a face like he was guilty of doing the same thing and Zayn chuckled. He crawled down the bed again, dropping the lube at Liam’s hip and hooking his fingers into the elastic of his underwear. Liam lifted himself a little so Zayn could pull the material away from him, drag it down his legs, and drop it carelessly on the floor.

Liam’s cock was hard, resting, curved and flushed dark, against his belly, the wetness at the tip smearing across his skin. Zayn peppered kisses along the soft skin of Liam’s inner thighs, stopping once to suck a light bruise up near his groin before he sat up and settled himself astride Liam. Sitting high on Liam’s thighs, he could feel the play of muscle under him when Liam shifted, getting comfortable. 

Plucking up the lube from where it sat on the bedcovers, Zayn flipped the cap and squirted some out onto his palm. He dropped the tube back down then reached for Liam’s cock, wrapping his fingers around the length and listening to Liam groan in response to the contact.

He stroked from base to tip a few times to get the feel for it and he felt Liam try and buck his hips up when he increased the pressure slightly. Zayn swept his thumb over the head, collecting the pre-come beaded there with the pad of it. He pressed the tip of his thumb into the slit and watched as Liam reacted, screwing a hand into the covers and tipping his head back against the pillow.

Liam was heavy in his hand and hot under him, shifting restlessly. Zayn could see sweat pinpricking along his collarbone as he jacked him, drawing out wanton moans with every stroke of his hand.

Throwing an arm across his eyes, it was like Liam was overwhelmed. He was biting at his lips while he writhed, fingers still screwed tightly in the sheets. Then suddenly he reached for Zayn, fingers outstretched then wrapping around Zayn’s free wrist, tugging him down into a messy kiss. 

With the pressure gone from his legs, Liam was able to roll his hips in time with Zayn’s strokes. The action pressed them together and Zayn groaned into Liam’s mouth; after being left untouched, his cock was sensitive to every push of Liam’s body.

Hands came to Zayn’s hips, fingers dipping into the waistband of his boxers and pushing them down to bunch around the tops of his thighs. One of Liam’s hands joined Zayn’s as he stroked, collecting some of the slick before fingers curled around Zayn’s cock almost tentatively, then, more confident as Zayn whispered Liam’s name against his lips.

They got lost in each other, rutting their bodies together as they pulled obscene sounds from one another. Eventually, Liam tipped his head to the side, a litany of _fuckzaynplease_ falling from his lips. The hand wrapped around Zayn paused; Liam’s grip was a fraction too tight as he came, arching up and choking out a sob.

Zayn stroked Liam through his orgasm, only stopping when he whimpered, the touch becoming too much for his over-stimulated nerves. Liam’s hand still hadn’t moved; he’d turned a bit useless in his afterglow.

“C’mon Li,” Zayn murmured, curling his fingers around Liam’s, reminding the boy to move. “C’mon, I'm nearly there…ahhh.” Together, they stroked over Zayn’s cock as he pumped his hips forward. 

Liam was staring up at him, eyes wide and pupils blown out, his breath hitching when Zayn’s did. His grip tightened ever so slightly on the upstroke and he breathed out Zayn’s name. That did it. Zayn screwed up his eyes as he came, his come mixing with Liam’s as it striped over his stomach and chest.

After a moment, Zayn tipped himself to the side, collapsing beside Liam, one leg slung over his. They lay together panting and coming down from their highs. Zayn swiped a finger lazily through the mess on Liam’s stomach and he heard him breath out a laugh.

“I think we need to do that again.” Liam rolled his head to the side, biting at his lip as he grinned at Zayn. His cheeks were still a bit flushed and Zayn pressed the back of his hand against the warm skin. “But we should probably clean up a little first.”

 

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer on Chapter One :)

Zayn rubbed at his eyes again and took a sip of his tea as he waited for his first class to start on Monday morning. He was exhausted after the weekend. Between having to pick up drunken teenagers in the middle of the night on Friday, spending a lot of Saturday night not-sleeping with Liam, and then spending the majority of Sunday at the hospital because his sister had gone into labour, Zayn was surprised he hadn’t called in sick.

But there he was, at his desk on Monday morning, trying to keep his eyes open as his Year 13’s trailed in through the door. Liam arrived, sandwiched between Harry and Niall as they discussed whether or not Kanye West could be remixed well with The Beatles. He hung back a little as they passed Zayn’s desk and sent him a small, knowing smile. Harry must have noticed because he looked quickly between them both before returning to the conversation. With a groan, Zayn realised that Harry would be coming to confront him.

Harry’s confrontation, however, took another week to happen. Class was finished, and as usual the boys were the last to leave. But instead of following Liam and Niall to the door, Harry stopped in front of Zayn’s desk looking determined. Liam had frozen in the doorway, his eyes wide as they flicked between Harry and Zayn. 

“Don’t you and Niall have chemistry right now, Liam?” Harry kept his tone light, but Zayn could see by the way Harry looked at Liam that he wanted them to leave. 

Liam fiddled with the straps on his backpack. “Yeah, but we could wait for you.”

“What would be the point in that?” Niall poked his head in the doorway, making a face. “We don’t even go down the same corridor. See you later, Harry.” He pulled Liam out the door and down the hallway, talking loudly about how they were going to set things on fire in the lesson.

Slowly, Harry walked over to the door and shut it. He turned back to face Zayn. The bruising around his eyes had faded to a mottled yellow-green and even though it meant he was healing, it made him look a bit sickly. Zayn sat and waited for Harry to speak again, trying to ignore the way his heart had started to beat in a nervous rhythm.

“I think by now,” Harry began slowly, making his way back over to Zayn. “Liam would have told you that I know.”

Zayn fixed a curious expression on his face and tried to keep his voice steady. “That you know what, Harry?”

Harry glared at him; he wasn’t an idiot. “I'm not going to dob you in, you’re a decent teacher and you’ve always been nice to me. Liam’s eighteen, so it’s not like it’s illegal, but he’s also one of my best mates. I don’t have any brothers; he and Niall are the closest thing I’ll get to actually having some.” He paused, straightened up and looked directly at Zayn. 

The bruising looked a bit menacing now that it was coupled with the hard glint in Harry’s eyes. “So what I'm trying to say is, that if you’re just messing him ‘round, getting him to blow you under your desk or bend over it just so you can have a bit of fun and maybe give him a better grade, don’t.”

The bluntness of that last statement left Zayn reeling slightly and he let out an indignant huff. “Not that it’s any of your business, Harry, but Liam and I don’t have sex in the school.”

“It is my business, because if you hurt him, Niall and I are going to be the ones left to put him back together,” Harry said angrily; he had raised his voice and Zayn glanced quickly at the door.

“Keep your voice down,” he hissed as he stood up and came around the front of his desk. With Zayn now standing in front of him Harry seemed to shrink back a little. “Look, I get that you care about him. I do too. I didn’t walk into this lightly, Harry, believe me. I could lose my job over this, my livelihood; I wouldn’t risk that if he didn’t mean something to me.” 

Harry seemed to regard him, his eyes flicking over Zayn’s face like he was looking for a trace of dishonesty. After a long moment Harry slumped back onto a desk behind him, apparently satisfied. “You really do like him; but why?” The question wasn’t malicious sounding in any way; Harry seemed genuinely curious as to why Zayn would readily throw his life away over an affair with a teenage student.

“Because he makes me happy, happier than I’ve been in a long time.” Zayn smiled gently and Harry ducked his head down as if he were embarrassed. Of course he chooses now to get shy and not earlier when he was accusing Zayn of fucking Liam over his desk. Zayn snorted softly and rolled his eyes. “Come on, it’s been a while since I sat in on one of Lou’s drama lessons. What have you been working on lately?”

*** 

“Good lord, who is that coming through the door, could it be the illustrious Harry Styles?” Louis gasped and set a hand over his heart. “Why yes, I think it is. It’s so wonderful of you to grace us with your presence, Mr. Styles.”

Harry shook his head, and if Zayn had been able to see his face, he was probably rolling his eyes too. His hand twitched at his side like he wanted to flip Louis off, but instead, Harry just made his way down the aisle, past rows and rows of tiered seating until he got to the open area at the front of the drama classroom that served as a stage. Zayn slipped into an aisle seat in a row somewhere near the middle and kicked his feet up over the seat in front. He watched as Louis and Harry exchanged a few words before Louis ruffled his hair and pushed him in the direction of a few girls holding scripts.

“You know,” said Louis, making his way up the aisle towards Zayn. “You could have just given him a note. You didn’t have to drag yourself all the way over here.”

Zayn shrugged. “Haven’t been here in a while. I just realised how much I missed watching you make a dick of yourself in front of your students.”

“They worship me.”

Zayn would have replied but he was distracted watching as one student, fake sword in hand, pretended to brutally murder one of their peers. “What play did you say you were doing again?” he asked over his shoulder to Louis who was sat a seat over in the row behind him.

“The Love of the Nightingale.” Louis leant forward and folded his arms along the seat back.

“Right. It’s a bit grim.”

Louis chuckled. “Adaptation of a Greek legend, Zayn, of course it’s a bit grim. Oh! But something that’s not grim; I need you to come ‘round tonight, and bring your laptop.”

Turning in his seat, Zayn shot Louis a confused look. “Why do I have to bring my computer? Can’t you just use yours?”

“No, because El might look at the history. And I _don’t_ want her finding out about this.” Despite the fact they weren’t going to be overheard, Louis’ voice had lowered to a conspiratorial sounding whisper.

“Just dele- wait.” Zayn frowned and looked his friend over a couple of times. “This isn’t some kind of weird porn thing, is it? Because as much as I love your company, Lou, I don’t love it that much.”

Louis smacked his shoulder and made a strangled noise. “God, not porn. Diamonds…I'm gonna ask El to marry me.” He looked over at Zayn, almost sheepishly, a small smile playing across his face. “And if I use my computer I just know I’ll miss something and she’ll find out. Besides, I don’t know the first fucking thing about engagement rings.”

“And I do?” Louis didn’t reply, only gave Zayn’s shoulder a faint squeeze as he walked past him and down the aisle back to his students, calling out to Harry to ‘stop flirting; these girls are too young for you’.

***

_New Message!  
From: L.P.  
Message: fuck sorry abut harry :/_

Zayn looked up from his phone just in time to narrowly avoid colliding with a woman holding shopping bags in one hand and the hood of her young daughter’s coat in the other. He called a quick apology over his shoulder and looked back at his mobile.

_To: L.P.  
Message: He just cares about you. Wait. How did you know he talked to me?_

Still frowning at the screen, Zayn pushed open the door to the Chinese take-away he often stopped at before going to Louis’. By the time he’d placed his order – large chicken fried rice, small beef and black bean, and four spring rolls – Liam still hadn’t text back. He was about to put the phone in his pocket when it rang. The caller ID showed it was Liam. 

“Hey.”

“Hi, where are you right now?” He heard a door being shut, and the muted sounds of Liam dropping things to the floor.

“I’m at the takeaway. Thought I’d pick up some tea before heading ‘round to Lou’s. You?”

There was a muffled _whump_ and a sigh mingled with a pleased groan that left a tight feeling low in Zayn’s stomach. “In my room, I just got home from Harry’s…which is, um, what I wanted to talk to you about.” Liam paused and after a moment cleared his throat. “We, I – I told Niall. About us. I thought it was time, and, well, it was starting to feel weird keeping it from him.”

Liam kept his voice quiet, his parents must have been home. “How’d he take it?” Despite the fact that he and Liam had already discussed that Liam was going to tell Niall, Zayn kept his tone light; he didn’t want the boy to feel like it was something he shouldn’t have done. 

“Alright. I think he was a bit confused to begin with.” He laughed softly. “Said he hadn’t noticed anything, but then it’s not like we’re very obvious about it, or that Niall notices much to begin with, and even less when Cher’s in the room.”

Zayn smiled, but was stopped from replying by the man at the counter calling his name. “So I don’t have to worry about him coming after me?” Zayn joked, nodding in thanks to the man as he passed Zayn the bag with his food.

“No, I think you’re safe.” He chuckled down the phone and Zayn’s smile widened at the sound. “He did make a joke about it, and then Harry sort of mumbled something about having already done it.”

“And then he told you what he said?” Liam gave an affirming hum. “I don’t really blame him, and I'm seriously not upset that he did. It’s probably too much to hope that he could have been a bit more delicate about it, but to be honest, I’d probably do the same thing if I was in his place. You’d have to be an idiot not to see that he cares about you, he has the right to be a little protective.”

Zayn could hear Liam’s steady breathing over the line and it was a moment or two before he spoke, sounding a little embarrassed, as most teenage boys are want to do when talking about feelings. “Yeah, I…thanks Zayn. I did tell him we’re careful though, that you won’t even let me kiss you on school grounds.” 

Liam sounded faintly put out and Zayn was gripped by the sudden desire to reverse the ruling. Clearing his head with a quick shake, Zayn dropped his voice to a whisper, mindful of the people he was passing on the street. “That didn’t stop him from accusing me of fucking you over my desk.” A furtive glance around told him no one had overheard.

“You can’t say you haven’t thought about it though.” Zayn’s eyes went wide at the suggestive tone in Liam’s voice. “I had a dream, once, where you pushed me up against your desk. You kissed me and pulled on my tie while you undid my trousers with one hand.” The breath Zayn heard Liam take was somewhat ragged. “Then you turned me ‘round and dropped to your knees. God. Dragged my pants down and started biting, and licking my- ”

“Jesus, Liam!” Zayn choked out, and realising he was going to do some damage to his mobile, loosened his grip on the thing. “Now is not the time.” 

He heard Liam sigh. “Do you know how hard it is seeing you everyday but not being able to touch you? Fancying you was a lot easier, you know, because at least then I never knew what you felt like in my hands.”

Zayn tucked his mobile between his ear and shoulder and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Of course I know how hard it is. Sometimes it takes everything I have not to kiss you when you walk into the room, or say something clever, or even just when you look at me.” He picked his phone back up and turned the corner onto Louis’ street. “But you’ll be done with school soon; we just have to be patient.” 

“I know, I can be patient…mostly. What are you wearing?”

Zayn snorted at the abrupt change in direction of the conversation. “What, right now, while I'm walking down the street?”

“Fine,” Zayn could almost hear Liam rolling his eyes. “What would you like to be wearing? And, before you get smart and say ‘while I'm walking down the street?’, you’d be with me, somewhere _very_ alone.”

“Not a lot. And anything I had on I wouldn’t for much longer.” He groaned and tipped his head back to stare at the sky for a moment. “Fuck, Li, now really, _really_ isn’t the time. I'm about to go into Louis’ building, and I actually don’t want to have to explain to him why I turned up to his place hard.”

“Hmm,” Liam hummed, “You’re right. I should go; tea should be ready soon anyway. You’ll call me tonight?”

“You can tell me all about that dream you had.” He waited a beat then closed the conversation with a soft “Bye, Liam.”

***

Apparently, Zayn thought, there’s a first time for everything. He tried Louis’s door handle again, and once more nothing happened. For only about the fourth time in the nearly two and a half years he’d known Louis, Zayn pressed the doorbell. 

He was still frowning confusedly when Louis flung the door open. “You locked your door. You never lock your door.”

“Safety precaution,” Louis muttered, ushering Zayn inside and taking the bag of food from him. “Just in case El turns up unexpectedly.”

Zayn followed him into the living room; he unshouldered the satchel containing his laptop and dropped down onto Louis’ massive, overstuffed sofa. “Think you’ve missed the boat on a couple things there Lou. One,” he began, holding up a finger, “Eleanor has a key - granted, she’s probably never used it, but you did give her one. And two, she’s in Spain.” 

***

They spent an hour eating and educating themselves about gold and diamonds before Louis would even look at rings. Zayn found his seriousness slightly hilarious, but it was endearing all the same. Louis was in love, and a small part of Zayn seethed with jealousy at how open and carefree he could be about it.

“If I want white gold I'm going to have to get a tiny stone, it’s too expensive otherwise.” Louis bit at his thumb nail and opened another jewellery website.

Zayn glanced at the screen and pointed to a ring. “She’s going to like whatever you pick, Lou.”

“What makes you say that?”

Zayn made a face when Louis pulled another ring up on the screen. “Because you picked it.” 

Louis snorted and turned to look at him. “That is not true. What about that jumper I gave her last month? The red one with the sparkly shoulder things; she hated it.” 

“That’s because it was an ugly jumper.” Not even Louis had been sure about it when he’d showed it to Zayn. He just mumbled something about fashion and shoved it back in the bag before dragging Zayn off to the pub.

Sighing, Louis went back to the laptop. “Hey, Zayn?” He paused. Zayn made a humming noise to show he was listening. “I know she hasn’t said yes yet, I haven’t even asked her. But if she says yes, do you wanna be my best man?”

Zayn nudged Louis gently in the ribs with an elbow and grinned at him. “ _When_ she says yes, you mean. And yeah, I’ll definitely be your best man.” 

Louis grinned back at him then wrapped Zayn up in a sudden hug. “Thanks,” he murmured, pulling away and punching Zayn lightly on the shoulder. “Better find a ring then.”

“You could go to an actual jeweller, you know? They do sell engagement rings; that’s kind of their job.”

Louis frowned. “I'm not actually going to buy one off the internet, I don’t think. But have you seen a jewellery store? They’re intimidating; everything’s all shiny and distracting. I want an idea of what I want first.”

“That’s not a bad plan, actually.”

“I'm a genius.” He folded his arms over his chest and threw Zayn a self-satisfied smirk, laughing when Zayn rolled his eyes. “So,” Louis said. He reached out to close the laptop and squished himself into the corner of the sofa, suddenly serious. “I bumped into Rebecca yesterday.”

Zayn felt his pulse jump and he raised an eyebrow, keeping his face impassive. “El’s friend? The one we went out with?”

“The very same.” He nodded. “I thought maybe you’d hit it off, when you left together. But you didn’t say anything and she told me yesterday that nothing happened.” 

Frowning, Zayn drew a leg up under him as he crossed his arms. Was this about Liam? “She was nice but there wasn’t anything there. We thought we’d let you and El have some time to yourselves.”

“Because you’re not really into girls at the moment?”

“Yeah, I guess.” His frown deepened. “What’re you getting at Lou?”

Louis shrugged a shoulder and ran a hand through the back of his hair. He wasn’t really meeting Zayn’s eye, just flicking up occasionally before going back to stare at the spot on Zayn jumper where he’d spilled some of his dinner. “We’ve just…I feel like we’ve been a bit distant since you told me about…I just want to know what’s going on in your life.”

“You mean you want to know about Liam?” Zayn asked slowly. His stomach felt tight. The last time Louis had brought up Liam was when he’d asked Zayn to come out with him and El to meet Rebecca. That was nearly a month ago. “Why?”

Louis exhaled forcefully and brought his gaze level with Zayn’s. “We used to talk about stuff like this. I wanna know what’s going on.” He frowned. “I want the truth, Zayn.”

Silence hung between them for a few long moments as they just looked at each other. Louis was chewing on his lip as he fiddled with his sleeve. Digging his fingers into his arm, Zayn shut his eyes. He kept telling Liam it was good for him to have his friends, to be able to talk to them about their relationship if he needed to. So why had he found it so hard to do the same for himself?

Zayn took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “I slept with Liam.” 

 

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer on Chapter One :)

He only just managed to throw up his arm in time to stop Louis from slapping him full in the face. Still, Louis was able to catch his cheek with the tips of his fingers, scratching with blunt nails. It stung.

Zayn shoved him back into the couch. “You just tried to slap me in the face, you fuck.”

“Sorry,” Louis bit out, pulling his sleeves down over his hands and crossing his arm tight over his chest. “I wasn’t thinking – actually I was. I was thinking you’re a massive fucking idiot. You slept with him?!”

“Sort of, we didn’t actually fuck but…semantics.” Zayn pressed the heel of his hand to his cheek, wincing. It didn’t come away bloody, so that was a good thing. “I can’t believe you slapped me though.”

Louis made a face at him. “What, would you rather I punched you? I can do it if you really want.”

“Don’t be a cunt.”

Scoffing, Louis flipped him off. “You slept with a student, Zayn. I thought you only had a little crush or whatever. How long has this been going on?”

Zayn cleared his throat and hoped Louis wouldn’t try and hit him again. “Uh, about a month.” Louis’ eyes widened but he didn’t say anything. “He sort of tricked me into going out with him a couple weeks before we started, not sure if I really count that though. Nothing happened until the last day before half-term. I…I kissed him, in the library.”

“Valentine’s Day, how romantic,” Louis sneered, rolling his eyes. “You’re an idiot, Zayn.”

“I know.”

Louis looked at him sharply. “Thank fuck for that. I assume you remember that conversation we had about how risky and unethical something like this is?” He paused and Zayn nodded. “Then explain to me, right now, why that doesn’t seem to matter anymore.”

The anger had gone from his voice, turned into something more beseeching. Zayn could tell just by looking at him that Louis was worried for him – angry and confused, but still, worried all the same. There was a sad set to his mouth that made Zayn chew at his bottom lip. He couldn’t lose Louis, but he had to wonder if this was going to change their friendship, and not for the better.

“I can’t.” Louis’s mouth opened to speak but Zayn held up a hand. “I didn’t say I won’t. I said I can’t, because I can’t find the words to explain it to you in any other than just ‘because I really, really like him’. My English degree is failing me right now, but Lou, there’s just something about the way he makes me feel that I can push all those worries aside.”

“Are you in love with him?”

Was he? Zayn took a moment to breathe before he answered Louis. “Not yet, not completely. But I think parts of me are. He makes me happy, Lou. Happy like I see you are with Eleanor.” He saw Louis’ face soften at that, the corner of his mouth edging up in a faint smile. “And it’s hard because I can’t tell anyone. I can’t touch him or kiss him or say some of the things I want to say to him whenever I want. But…but I work through that all _because_ he makes me so happy. And, at the end of the day, I know it’s not always going to be like this; we’re not going to have to hide all the time.”

When he’d finished, Zayn looked down at his lap. He uncurled his fingers from where they’d become fisted in the hem of his jumper and waited for Louis to speak.

“Well,” Louis said over an exhale. “Apparently your English degree hasn’t failed you entirely. I’ve never seen you like this, did you know? In the years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you react to another person like this.”

“That’s because I’ve never been like this about anyone else, ever. It might sound stupid, but I think when I do fall in love with him, properly, it could be for the rest of my life.” His voice had dropped to a near-whisper. Zayn looked up at Louis again, still slightly uncertain because Louis hasn’t actually said how he feels about anything yet – other than that he thinks Zayn’s an idiot.

Louis watched him for a moment, that ghost of a smile still on his lips, before taking a breath and speaking. “You’ve fallen hard for this kid. I wanna be furious with you, because of the sheer amount of risk alone, but I can’t. Not when I can see how much he genuinely means to you.” He laughed a little incredulously. “I thought I was in love with El from the get-go, but I don’t think I felt even half of what I think you’re probably feeling right now.”

“So you don’t hate me then?”

“No,” Louis said with a shake of his head. 

Zayn bit at his bottom lip, fighting a smile; he still had one more thing to ask. “And…and you still want me to be your best man?”

“Of course I do.” Rolling his eyes, Louis leaned forward to cuff Zayn across the knee with his knuckles. “You’re my best friend, Zayn. It’s going to take more than one slightly questionable relationship for me to chuck in the towel. If you want to get rid of me, you’re going to have to try harder than that.”

Zayn let a grin bloom across his face as relief washed over him. Louis wasn’t totally mad at him, didn’t hate him _and_ still wanted him in his wedding. Zayn’s shoulders felt lighter, the weight of his secret no longer bearing down on them. “It feels really good to get it off my chest, to be honest. Much longer and I'm not sure what I would have done; cracked, probably.”

“I guess that makes me your secret keeper then. But don’t worry, I won’t betray you to any dark wizards,” Louis said solemnly and mimed zipping his lips. Zayn could only laugh. “Right, now we could either get back to looking at rings _or_ I saw an advert for The Princess Diaries last night, it’s going to start in a minute.”

***

The classroom door closed softly, muffling some the sounds of lunchtime revelry, and Zayn looked up from his work. Liam looked at him, head tilted to the side gently and an eyebrow raised. “You,” he began, perching himself atop a desk, “were supposed to ring me last night, we had a date.”

“Sorry,” Zayn groaned, trying to look as apologetic as possible. “It slipped my mind. Louis and I had a bit of a talk…about us.”

Liam sat up straighter, his fingers curling over the edge of the desk. His eyes had gone a little wide and he licked his lips uncertainly before opening his mouth. “Mr. Tomlinson? Did he…was it…?”

“It’s okay.” He smiled when Liam visibly relaxed. “I mean, you’re probably not going to get an invite to his wedding anytime soon. But, everything is fine. We’re friends with some good people, you and me.”

Liam smiled fondly. “Yeah,” he said and slipped off the desk. Making his way towards Zayn’s desk, Liam’s smile turned mischievous and Zayn sat back in his chair, watching him as he came right up to the edge of the desk. “I didn’t come here to tell you off though.”

“Really?” Zayn folded his arms over his chest and curled his fingers into his sleeves. The door may be closed but Zayn still couldn’t risk moving from his seat; and it was killing him. All he wanted to do was thread his fingers with Liam’s and press a kiss to his throat. Instead, he bit the inside of his lip and remained in his seat.

Sliding a finger lazily back and forth across the edge of the desk, Liam shook his head. “Mum and Dad are going into London on Friday, Dad has some fancy work do, and they won’t be back until Saturday night. So,” he sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and held it for a moment before letting go to speak, his words spilling out quickly. “I was wondering if you wanted to come around?”

“And what did you want to do?” Zayn said around his grin, eye flicking down to Liam’s lips when he swiped his tongue over them.

“Oh,” murmured Liam, just as the bell rang. “I have a few things in mind.” 

***

It was still raining heavily when Zayn pulled up outside Liam’s house. He ducked his head and turned up his coat collar against the wet, stepping over the overfull gutter and dashing up to the front door. Liam had told him to come by at five, it would give him enough time to shower, tidy his room a bit, and make sure his parents were well and truly gone. It was chilly outside and the grey sky was darkening more every minute. Zayn brushed raindrops from his coat sleeve and knocked a fist against the door.

“Hi, come in.” Liam said when he’d pulled the door open, stepping aside to let Zayn in. He slid the lock into place after shutting the door and then turned to Zayn, fingers going to the buttons on his coat as he leant in for a kiss. He pulled back and brought a hand up to toy with Zayn’s hair, tugging gently on the strands that fell across his forehead. “I like it like this, soft.”

“It’s damp, and flat.”

“It’s hot.”

Zayn snorted but brushed his lips against Liam’s; pulling back when he felt lips part under his. Liam huffed but Zayn ignored him, choosing instead to toe off his boots and shrug his coat off. Draping it over his arm, he curled the fingers of his free hand around Liam’s and said, “Do I get a tour, or are we just going straight to your room?”

“This is downstairs,” Liam said, grinning, and tugged him towards the stairs. When they made it up to the landing, having only stopped once or twice on their way up to trade kisses, Zayn let Liam pull him towards a door and press him up against the doorframe. “Those were the stairs, this is upstairs, and through here is my room,” Liam told him, nipping at his bottom lip before they tumbled through the door, Zayn’s coat lying forgotten on the carpet.

He took a moment to survey Liam’s room; it wasn’t overly large. A single bed was tucked in under the window on the far wall, Buzz and Woody lying haphazardly atop the blue chequered duvet. A low bookcase stuffed with more DVDs and videogames than books stood next to the bed, doubling as a bedside table - if the reading lamp and novel sitting on top were anything to go by. A door on the opposite wall lead to, what Zayn assumed to be, Liam’s wardrobe; a poster for a band he didn’t know was tacked lopsidedly to it. A few unpacked boxes sat on the floor beside a sturdy looking desk, school books piled on one end and loose sheets of refill littered the other. 

“Mum’s caught me tidying it twice this week,” Liam murmured, standing behind Zayn, hands sliding down his sides to curl over his hips. “Think she was a bit concerned the second time, asked me if I was okay.”

Zayn chuckled and turned in Liam’s embrace. “Not many boys your age would willingly tidy their rooms once a week let alone twice, I might have asked you the same thing.” He let his hands drift down and plucked at the hem of Liam’s school jumper. He frowned. “I thought you said you were having a shower?”

“And I did.”

Liam’s hair was still slightly damp when Zayn carded his fingers through the mop of half-curls. He stepped back. His eyes travelling down Liam’s body, taking in tie knotted loosely at his throat and the untucked shirt-tail peeking out from the jumper; all the way down to Liam’s bare feet and cuffs of his school trousers, not spattered with mud like they should have been at the end of a day as foul-weathered as this one.

“Oh,” breathed Zayn as he realised what was happening. “ _Oh_.”

Pushing him back towards the desk with an arched brow and a wolfish grin, Liam said, “You said we couldn’t fuck at school. You never said we couldn’t fuck like we were at school.”

“This is so wrong,” Zayn groaned as he wound an arm around Liam’s neck and dragged him in for a kiss; his other hand clutching at Liam’s hip as he licked into his mouth.

Liam chuckled against his lips then ran the tip of his tongue along the edge of Zayn’s teeth. He slipped his hands up under the layers of Zayn’s shirts and raked blunt fingernails over his ribs, making Zayn shiver. “I’ve seen how you look at me at school, especially when we’re alone,” Liam said when they broke apart. “You want to fuck me while I'm in uniform don’t you, _Sir_?” 

Zayn was suddenly glad for the desk he was leaning on; Liam’s words had sent a spark of arousal down his spine and into his groin, his knees turning to water slightly. Ducking back in to catch Liam’s lips again, Zayn brought his arm down from around Liam’s neck and settled a hand on his hip instead, fingers of both hands flexing over hipbones and worming their way under layers of fabric to press onto warm skin.

The sky was dark now; a sliver of light from the streetlamps outside came through a gap in the curtains. The rain was still heavy, beating against the window and drowning out the sounds from the street. It was like Zayn’s whole world had been narrowed to the rain lashing against the glass and the hush of their breathing.

Liam’s hands went higher, fingertips flitting over a sensitive spot on Zayn’s ribs, then grazing over a nipple, stopping to roll it between a thumb and forefinger. Zayn gasped and pulled Liam closer by the hands on his hips. The higher Liam’s hands went the further his shirts rode up until Liam was pulling them over Zayn’s head, urging his arms up and out of the sleeves, dropping it to the floor at their feet. 

Zayn’s hands went to the hem of Liam’s jumper but fingers closed over his own and Liam gave him a soft smile and shook his head. “You have to wait, I'm not finished yet.”

“Just the jumper then?” Zayn tried, and Liam seemed to consider for a moment before dragging the garment up over his head. Zayn kissed him when he reappeared; Liam’s lips were soft and eager, and just a little dry, parting automatically when Zayn’s tongue swiped across the seam of Liam’s mouth.

They stayed like that for a while; the slick warm slide of tongues and gentle nipping at the edges of lips. Liam’s fingers dragged through Zayn’s hair as he pressed himself closer, Zayn could feel him hard against his hip. It was easy to get lost in kissing Liam, Zayn thought, they way he would sigh when their tongues slid together just so, or the twitch of his stomach muscles as Zayn’s fingers dipped into the gaps between the buttons of his shirt to brush over the skin beneath.

By the time Liam’s lips had migrated to his throat, Zayn had started to rock their hips together. A slow, shallow movement that made Liam’s breath gust hotly over Zayn’s skin when their bodies met at just the right angle. “No marks where anyone could see.” Zayn reminded him as Liam latched his teeth to the side of Zayn’s throat. The boy hummed softly and shifted his teeth to Zayn’s collarbone.

Slowly, Liam pulled his hips back and Zayn whined low in his throat at the loss until Liam swirled his tongue around a nipple before sucking it between his lips. His teeth grazed lightly over the sensitive flesh and Zayn jolted, a hand curling over the edge of the desk for support. 

Liam kissed his way down Zayn’s torso, stopping to suck a light bruise onto the sensitive spot he’d found earlier with his fingertips. It didn’t occur to Zayn what Liam intended to do until he was on his knees, fingers plucking at the tail of his belt, pulling it through the loops to unbuckle the thing. Zayn stilled Liam’s hand with one of his own and Liam looked up at him with curious eyes, his kiss-swollen lips were parted and his breath was warm on Zayn’s stomach. 

“You sure?”

“Do you know how long I’ve thought about doing this? I'm pretty sure.” Still looking up at him, Liam undid the buckle of Zayn’s belt and pulled the leather until it was free of the belt loops. He set it on the ground and brought his hands, and attention, back to the fastenings on Zayn’s trousers. Zayn swallowed thickly. 

“You did send me a text once; after you came ‘round to mine that first time.” Zayn had thought about it a lot since then. The thought of Liam on his knees, mouth around his cock, had provided Zayn with more than adequate imagery for the nights he’d spent alone with his hand. And now, actually seeing Liam kneeling at his feet, in his school uniform no less, Zayn’s blood was racing and he could feel his pulse thrumming in his fingertips that were clenched around the edge of the desk.

When Liam took him into his mouth, Zayn groaned and leant back heavily on the desk, his eyes slipping closed. The brilliant, wet heat around his cock had Zayn gripping harder at the edge of the desk, his fingernails biting into the wood. He breathed out a soft “fuck” and Liam made a pleased sound, his tongue curling, gently searching out spots that made Zayn’s knees shake and his breath come harsher. 

Liam’s fingers were tracing lightly over the soft skin of Zayn’s inner thigh, working their way up then stealing away again without ever touching him where he really wanted. Zayn bit his lip through a grin and seriously considered calling him a tease. He was halfway through a groan when Liam’s teeth scraped over him a little too firmly, hissing uncomfortably his eyes flew open. Zayn look down at Liam as he was pulling his mouth away. “Gently,” Zayn reminded him and Liam nodded.

“Sorry,” Liam blinked up at him, his lips set in an apologetic little frown. “It’s just, all my experience with this, I’ve been on the, ah, receiving end.” 

Zayn tamped down on the tiny spark of jealousy that had flicker into life inside his chest. Liam had told him before that he’d had sex – with girls, and only girls. Contentment and satisfaction bubbled up over the jealousy now. There was something pleasant about the thought of being the first man Liam slept with. Zayn smiled down at him, reassuring.

“It’s okay.” Zayn bent forwards to level his eyes with Liam’s, threading fingers through his hair. “You’re doing great, I love it.” He could taste himself in Liam’s kiss, the faint, salty bitterness of pre-come that lingered on his tongue. 

Zayn kissed him once more, closed mouthed and sweet, before he straightened up. He let his hand slide from Liam’s hair to his cheek, the pad of his thumb brushing across Liam’s bottom lip, coaxing his lips apart and slipping his thumb between them. Liam sucked, mirroring his earlier ministrations, and Zayn revelled in the way his cheeks hollowed. After a moment Zayn gently pulled his thumb away, smiling fondly when Liam tried to follow. “Here,” Zayn murmured, his fingers wrapping around the knot in Liam’s tie. “Come up here again.” He tugged lightly and Liam rose to his feet.

“I wasn’t finished,” Liam pouted slightly and Zayn darted forward to kiss him back to smiling.

“We have plenty of time. But right now,” Zayn pulled Liam forward by his tie and brought his mouth to Liam’s ear, biting down gently on his earlobe before whispering, “I think I’d like you to tell me more about that dream you had.” Liam squirmed and Zayn grinned, slow and predatory, dropping his free hand down to palm at Liam through his uniform trousers.

TBC


	10. An Epilogue (of sorts)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer on Chapter One :)

It had taken two weeks for Zayn to stop getting hard and having to hide himself behind his desk whenever Liam pulled at the knot of his school tie or called him ‘Sir’. He would finish the word with a decidedly smug curl of his lips because, of course, he knew exactly the effect he was having on Zayn.

Another four weeks and Louis had been able to come over for dinner while Liam was there and not have it feel weird. It was nice seeing Liam not tense up slightly every time Louis walked into the room; almost as though he thought Louis were about to announce that he’d changed his mind and he was in fact not okay about their relationship and had gone ahead and informed all the appropriate parties of their inappropriate behaviours. 

Their tentative friendship was formed over takeaway curries, substandard disaster films, and the occasional evenings when Louis would bring around tubs of ice cream and they’d sit and watch reality television until they felt a bit sick. Zayn would smile every time he caught Louis giving Liam a gentle nudge in the ribs with his elbow after Liam said something particularly amusing or when Liam laughed at one of Louis’ terrible jokes. It was nice.

By the time summer rolled around, Zayn knew he was properly in love with Liam, like all the parts of him that weren’t quite there yet had caught up with the parts that were and they all fit together in a way that made his heart beat a little too fast when he stopped to think about it. He was pretty sure Liam felt the same, if the words murmured into the sweaty skin of his chest or shoulders after they collapsed back into the mattress were any indication. 

The sun was coming in through a gap in the bedroom curtains, spilling across Liam’s shoulders and highlighting his mussed curls with bits of bright golden blonde. Sitting at Zayn’s knee with the bed sheet pooled in his lap, leaving Zayn’s sprawled form exposed, Liam reached back and circled his fingers around an ankle and dragged his hand up, disturbing the soft hairs on Zayn’s shin as he went.

“I think,” Liam began, letting his fingers curl into the underside of Zayn’s knee, “that we should go away.”

“What, like a holiday?”

Liam hummed and his fingertips drift down Zayn’s inner thigh making him squirm and push into the touch, seeking more. “Yeah, like somewhere where no one knows us. You could hold my hand and kiss me in public, and we wouldn’t have to keep looking over our shoulders.”

Liam might be done with school, and Zayn might not be his teacher anymore, but that doesn’t mean they can stop being a secret. Instead of going out to dinner or to the cinema, they stay in, curled up on the sofa trading kisses between bites of takeaway Chinese while they try to understand the plot of some Italian foreign language film Zayn accidentally picked out because it had the same name as a film he actually wanted to watch. Sometimes Zayn thinks he likes it better like this, it means he doesn’t have to share Liam with the world; and besides, you can’t give someone a blowjob at the cinema without serious repercussions.

“So you think we should just pop over to Paris for a week or something?” Zayn tried to mean it as a joke but he was sure it didn’t come out right.

Liam scrunched up his nose and swept his hand up over Zayn’s stomach, brushing over the trail of fine, dark hair running down from Zayn’s navel. “Not that that isn’t lovely, but I was thinking of something a little closer. Like the beach? Harry and Niall were talking about going to Brighton; Harry’s dad has a holiday home. You could come with me?”

“That might not be far enough away. And I hardly think your friends will want me -” Zayn’s breath hitched as Liam curled deft fingers around his cock. “- tagging along.” He finished and reached a hand out towards Liam.

“Just think about it.” 

Zayn arched up into the hand Liam had wrapped around him, the circle of his fingers warm and sure, like he’s done this a hundred times before – which he has. Even if Liam didn’t mean for it to be some sort persuasive technique, it worked anyway, and Zayn found himself thinking he’d take Liam halfway around the world and stay there if it meant they didn’t have to hide anymore.

***

“Liam wants me to go with him to Brighton.” Zayn told Louis through the phone as he tried to navigate the railways website one handed, his other hand keeping his gurgling nephew upright on his lap. He eyed the baby critically. “Listen, if you sick up on me again, I don’t think you can come around anymore.”

Louis made an indignant noise through the phone. “It was only once, and I did apologise. I even bought you new shoes, which cost me an arm by the way.”

“What? I was talking to Ollie, I’ve just fed him and I’ve burped him but he’s looking a bit peaky. He throws up on me every time he comes ‘round. It’s like he’s trying to tell me he thinks I'm a terrible babysitter and he resents being left with me.” Ollie burbled and smacked sticky fingers into Zayn’s chest before clutching at the soft material of his ‘babysitting t-shirt’.

“I don’t think you can actually feel resentment when you’re not even six months old.” Zayn could hear the clack of a keyboard, like maybe Louis was actually Googling it. “Anyway, Brighton, you’re going on holiday together? Big step.”

Zayn shrugged then remembered Louis can’t see him. “Not really, I mean, we spend nearly every day together anyway.”

“Yes, but you’ve never been away with anyone before have you?” 

“No, I haven’t.” Rolling his eyes, Zayn clicked a link on the screen and tried to decide if having Harry drive them there would be less hassle. Zayn sighed, “He says he’s tired of having to hide away from everyone, and I am too, so maybe it’s a good idea? And besides, he seems a bit nervous about getting his A-level results; this might help take his mind off it.” 

Louis made a sympathetic sound then cleared his throat. “All I’m saying is that it’s not the same as spending everyday together at your flat, but it sounds like you’ve convinced yourself. I hope you have a great holiday.”

Zayn snorted and rearranged Ollie one handed because he’d started to slip sideways a bit. The baby screwed up his face slightly at the disturbance but didn’t cry and Zayn let out a relieved breath. “Oh, so I have the Louis Tomlinson seal of approval then?”

The front door opened just as Louis started to laugh and Liam walked in, dropping a kiss to Zayn’s temple and scooping up the baby in one swift action. Ollie smiled and cooed delightedly, waving his hands in Liam’s face and kicking his chubby legs. Zayn felt a hint of betrayal about the fact his nephew seems to prefer his boyfriend over him; Ollie’s never once thrown up on Liam.

“I’ve got to go, Liam’s just come in.” He watched as Liam arranged the baby comfortably on his hip and brought up a hand so Ollie could wrap tiny fingers around his thumb and stick it in his gummy jaws. Louis hung up with a comment about ‘having fun playing house’ and it stopped Zayn short.

“Tea?” Liam asked him, and Zayn just nodded dumbly, images of a future they could have together flashing up in his mind. They’ve not even properly said ‘I love you’ yet and now he’s thinking this? God, he’s stupid about this kid. Zayn shook his head and pressed palms to his eyes as Liam wandered out to the kitchen, chatting happily to the child in his arms. 

Flipping the lid of the laptop down, Zayn stood up and followed the pair out, stopping to lean against the door frame. Seeing Liam like this, so at ease with Ollie propped on his hip and pottering around Zayn’s kitchen making tea just the way he likes without having to ask; it made Zayn’s heart ache just a little, in a good way.

He took a breath and stepped into the kitchen, making his way over to Liam’s side. Tea slopped over the side of the mug when Zayn slid his fingers through the back of Liam’s hair as he was stirring sugar into one of the steaming cups. Humming happily, Liam pressed back into Zayn’s hand. “Nice chat with Louis?”

Zayn smirked as Liam’s tongue tripped over the name; he still wasn’t quite used to calling Louis anything other than Mr. Tomlinson and it amused Zayn to no end. “Yeah, he was asking me if I thought I could get Jessie J to perform at the wedding. Or, failing that, have Joanna Lumley jump out of a cake at his stag do. Pretty sure he was just having me on though.”

“Let’s hope,” said Liam, stirring the second tea.

Zayn moved to stand behind him, pressing chest against back as he curled a hand over Liam’s hipbone. The fabric of Liam’s t-shirt was soft under his fingertips, a contrast to the hard bone and muscle it covered. “Liam?” Zayn murmured. He brushed his lips over the side of Liam’s throat and could feel the vibration of his answering hum. “You still want me to come to Brighton?” 

Liam turned and brought a hand up to cup Zayn’s cheek. There was a giddy smile plastered to his face. “Of course.” He pressed forward and shifted his hand to the back of Zayn’s head to pull him in for a kiss. Their lips were barely touching when the squawk of a disgruntled infant sounded and Zayn got a tiny fist to the jaw.

“Ow, he never hits you.” Zayn wrapped his hand around Ollie’s waving fist. “Never throws up on you either. How is that fair?” 

Liam just chuckled and passed the baby over to Zayn before grabbing the mugs of tea off the counter and walking to the lounge. “Dunno, must just like me better.” He threw a grin over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner.

Sighing, Zayn frowned down at his nephew. “Well, at least you’ve got good taste, kid.”

***

Liam’s phone went off in the other room while Zayn was brushing his teeth. There was a quiet murmur before Liam called out to him. “That was Harry. He and Niall are outside, you ready to go?”

Zayn spat into the sink and rinsed off his toothbrush while giving the bathroom a cursory last check. “Uhh, yeah. I think I’ve got everything.” He chucked his toothbrush in his toiletries bag and walked to his bedroom to put it all in his suitcase. “Did you pack sun block?”

“I think so. But Niall should have some, his mum won’t let him go anywhere without it these past few weeks.” Liam laughed and picked his duffel bag up off the floor. “All set?”

“Yeah, come on.”

Harry was leaning against the boot of his slightly beat-up four-door when Liam and Zayn got outside. He popped it open and helped them load their bags before sliding back into the driver’s seat. Niall was up front, wayfarer shades resting at the tip of his nose so he could look over them as Liam and Zayn got themselves into the car.

“Liam,” Niall nodded. “Mr. Malik.” He and Harry dissolved into giggles, only settling down once Liam thumped them both on the shoulder.

“You’re not in school anymore, you can call me Zayn.” He caught Harry’s eye through the rear-view mirror. “Are you sure you’re okay with me coming?”

Starting the car, Harry looked over his shoulder at them and nodded. “Yeah, it’s fine. If you weren’t coming I'm pretty sure Liam would’ve just been a mopey git all holiday. So you’re doing us a favour really.” He grinned brightly and turned back around to focus driving.

Liam huffed and crossed his arms and Zayn couldn’t help but laugh at him.

When they arrived at Harry’s dad’s holiday house a few hours later the sun was high and there was a pleasant breeze coming in off the sea, dragging the salt and summer with it. Harry parked in front of the house and they all clambered from the car, groaning and stretching out their stiff muscles.

“There’s enough room for everyone, which means Niall doesn’t have to sleep on the sofa-”

“Oi, what makes you think I would have been on the sofa?” Niall called from where he’s got half his body in the car boot, trying to fish out any runaway items.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Because it’s my house and do you really think those two would be sleeping on the sofa? Anyway, as long as we tidy up a bit before we leave Dad said we can do whatever, but we’re to ‘try and behave’. Also we’ll have to get food at some point. I don’t think even Niall would be able to live off beer for four days straight.”

“I can try.” Niall grinned and hefted the strap of his bag over his shoulder and made his way to the front door. “Open this thing up Styles, I have to call the best room.”

Muttering, Harry dragged his suitcase up to the front door to unlock it and ended up in a shoving match with Niall after they both tried to go through at the same time. Zayn was stood watching them amusedly when Liam came to stand beside him and threaded their fingers together.

“I’m really glad you decided to come, you know.” Liam smiled at him, his bottom lip caught between his teeth slightly.

Zayn kissed him gently on the corner of the mouth then put his lips to Liam’s ear. “I'm really glad I decided to come too,” he whispered.

“Oi, you two! Inside; you’re scandalising the neighbours,” yelled Harry from the doorway, laughing loudly when Liam flushed pink and hurried up the path, tugging Zayn along in his wake.

***

After Harry had given a short tour of the house and shown everyone to their rooms - Liam and Zayn were the only ones to be sleeping upstairs; a fact Harry had told them with, what Zayn assumed to be, a meaningful eyebrow raise – Harry announced that he and Niall were going to go shopping for food and booze and that they would be gone “for _at least_ an hour and a half”. 

Liam flushed again after Niall called a cheery “stay safe” over in their direction as he dragged Harry out the door, the pair of them giggling into each other shoulders.

The door clicked shut and Zayn turned to Liam, his palm coming up to cup one of Liam’s warm cheeks. “Now that we have some peace and quiet, I think I might go for a lie down.” He tipped forward and planted a quick, dirty kiss on Liam’s lips. “Care to join me?”

“Very smooth.” Liam commented dryly as he followed Zayn back up the staircase to their bedroom. Zayn only grinned somewhat wolfishly over his shoulder and threw Liam a wink before quickening his pace up the stairs. 

Zayn pushed Liam up against the wall as soon as they got into the bedroom and kicked the door shut with his foot. His hands went straight up under the hem of Liam’s soft t-shirt to curl around his waist, blunt fingernails scratching at Liam skin and making him shiver. 

Liam groaned a little then pulled Zayn closer so he could kiss him, catching Zayn’s bottom lip with his teeth and tugging gently before crushing their mouths together and kissing Zayn until he was pliant enough for Liam to push off the wall and send them towards the bed.

Urging him backwards with hands at his shoulders, Liam directed Zayn until he was at the edge of the mattress then, after a quick kiss, let go of him to toe of his shoes and socks. Without Liam having to suggest he do the same, Zayn sat on the bed and slipped his own footwear off. He caught Liam’s lips as the boy went to straighten up, his hands dragging up Liam’s thighs, coming to rest on his belt. Zayn used one hand to fiddle with the buckle while the other pushed the bottom of Liam’s t-shirt up his stomach until Liam grabbed it and pulled the shirt over his head and dropping it at his feet. With that done, Zayn set to work quickly undoing Liam’s belt then the buttons on his trousers, only stopping briefly so that Liam could tug Zayn’s t-shirt up and off.

Liam’s skin was warm and a little sweat-sticky from the heat as Zayn pressed open-mouthed kisses to his hipbones and pushed Liam’s trousers down his legs. His teeth scraped over the edge of a hipbone and Liam rocked forward, his hands coming up to card through Zayn’s hair and clutch at the back of his neck. 

“We don’t have much time,” Zayn murmured into skin as his hands splayed over the curve of Liam’s arse. “And I think I might actually want a nap so-”

Liam interrupted him with a snort and a soft tug of his fingers in Zayn’s hair. “Well that was romantic.”

Zayn looked up and flashed him a grin. “I'm just saying that if we want to take our time about it we can stop now so you can go and get lube and condoms from my toilet kit. Or, we can just use our hands,” He dug his fingertips onto the flesh of Liam’s bum, “and our mouths,” Zayn ducked forward and mouthed at Liam’s cock through his pants, making Liam groan.

“I think we’re good how we are, don’t you?” Liam said a little breathlessly as he helped Zayn push down his briefs.

The only answer Zayn gave him was to wrap his fingers around Liam’s cock and stroke once, twice, then slide his lips over the head.

Liam groaned and curled in on himself slightly, pressing his fingertips into the muscle of Zayn’s neck. Zayn revelled in the breathy groans Liam made and the tiny, controlled stutters of his hips. The skylight in the room flooded the room and the bright light pouring over Liam’s skin made it even warmer under Zayn’s hands. He curled his tongue around Liam’s cock, licking over the sensitive spots he’d memorised from the countless moments they’d shared like this. 

Zayn flicked his eyes up, letting them travel over Liam’s stomach, which shuddered with each wave of pleasure that ran up his spine. Then upwards over Liam’s flushed chest and throat until their eyes met and Liam let out a whimper. 

He pulled himself away from Zayn, panting. “Not ready to be done yet.” He ducked and nipped at Zayn’s lips before slipping his tongue in, sliding it along Zayn’s until he drew a low groan from Zayn’s throat.

Hands were at Zayn’s shoulders again, pushing him back. Zayn tipped back onto his elbows and gave Liam a lazy grin. “Up?” he asked, gesturing up the bed. Liam nodded and Zayn shuffled himself backwards, laughing delightedly when Liam grabbed at the waistband of his sweatpants and pulled them off as Zayn moved. “C’mere. Want you to touch me.”

Liam scrambled up the bed after him and lay down, resting half his weight on Zayn and the other half on the elbow propped beneath him. Zayn brought a hand up to skate his fingers over Liam’s cheekbone then over his lips, tracing the curve of Liam’s smile. 

“How lucky am I? You’re beautiful, Liam.” Zayn breathed and Liam looked away, ducking his head to Zayn’s neck where he peppered soft kisses over his throat. “Especially like this; all flushed and hard just because I’ve put my hands on you, my mouth on you- Fuck Li.” Zayn’s hips came up when Liam pressed his teeth into Zayn’s skin, biting down gently before sucking a bruise low on his throat.

Slipping a leg between Zayn’s thighs, Liam rocked their hips together until Zayn was gasping and clutching at Liam’s shoulder blades. He dragged his nails over Liam’s skin and rolled his body up, rubbing against Liam’s hipbone.

“Liam,” Zayn groaned, bringing a hand up to Liam’s chest and pushing gently. “Liam. I need to – Liam, I am not going to come in my pants; I'm not a fucking teenager.” He pushed at Liam’s chest again to no avail and realised, not for the first time, that Liam was stronger than him.

Settling more of his weight on his elbow, Liam brought his other hand up to wrap around the wrist of the hand Zayn had at his chest and pinned it back against the bed. “I know that.” Liam murmured into Zayn’s ear, and Zayn could tell he was grinning, the bastard. “But you are fucking a teenager.” He whispered before grinding his hips down and sucking on Zayn’s earlobe.

“Fu-ck.” His breath hitched and Zayn resigned himself to the fact that he would indeed be coming in his pants until Liam released his wrist and started pushing down his underwear just enough to free Zayn’s cock and take it in hand. “Please Li, oh fuck, please.”

Pushing his hips up into the tight circle of Liam’s fist, Zayn let out a low moan. He loved that Liam knew what he wanted in bed now without having to ask. He knew when to tighten his grip, and that pressing his thumb just under the head of Zayn’s cock right before he was about to come made it so much better, that it leaves Zayn shaking and breathless. 

Liam rocked against him and sucked another bruise to Zayn’s throat, the boys were going to have a right laugh when they got back and saw him all marked up, but right then Zayn didn’t really care. Instead he focused on the way Liam jerked him, hard and perfect, and told him so with a whisper and a groan, twisting his fingers into the bedspread. 

With a twist of Liam’s wrist, heat flared in Zayn’s belly and suddenly it wasn’t enough, he needed more of Liam. Zayn stilled Liam’s hand and pushed him back. “Stop, stop.” He panted and Liam looked down at him, confused. Zayn carded his fingers through Liam’s hair, pulling it back from his face and leaned up to kiss him. “Changed my mind, I need you in me. Now, please.”

“Yeah,” breathed Liam and caught Zayn’s lips in another kiss, licking past his teeth and over his tongue. Zayn pushed at his chest again and Liam got the message. “Yeah, okay, one second.” He rolled off the side of the bed and stumbled into the ensuite. 

Zayn used the time Liam was gone to remove his pants; he chucked them to the floor and lay back, his thighs spread wantonly as he palmed at his cock. Liam appeared in the doorway, lube and condom in hand and stopped. Zayn watched him swallow and bite at his bottom lip before he groaned out Liam’s name and the boy flicked his eyes up to Zayn’s face then quickly made his way to the bed. He settled on his knees between Zayn’s thighs, shooing Zayn’s hand away then leaned over to drop kisses to Zayn’s abdomen. 

He worked his way down, grazing his teeth over Zayn’s ribs and his tongue dragging over hitching stomach muscles. Zayn let out a shaky sigh when Liam nipped at his hipbone and traced his tattoo with the tip of his tongue. 

Tugging none too gently on Liam’s hair, Zayn ground out a “Liam, now, c’mon.” 

Liam pressed one last open-mouthed kiss to Zayn’s skin before he looked up, a smirk flitted across his face. “Bossy,” he admonished playfully and Zayn decided that Liam liked having the upper-hand just a bit too much. 

Zayn resorted to whining, “Please” and a grin curled at the corners of Liam’s lips but he picked up the condom, ripping the foil open before rolling it over his cock. He pushed Zayn’s thighs further apart, spreading him open, and grabbed the bottle of lube. 

At the first touch of Liam’s slicked fingers against his hole, Zayn let out a high, desperate sounding keen and pressed down. Liam worked him open with two fingers, stopping once to add more lube, until Zayn was twisting his hips up and clawing at the bedspread, moaning out a mantra of _nowpleaseinnow_.

Pulling out, Liam sat back on his heels and picked up the lube once more. He poured some onto his fingers, slicking them over his cock and then again over Zayn’s hole before wiping off his fingers against Zayn’s hip. Liam shuffled forwards, drawing Zayn’s hips up onto his lap as Zayn hooked one leg over Liam’s shoulder. 

After pressing his lips to Zayn’s inner thigh, Liam curled his fingers over Zayn’s leg to keep it steady and used his other hand to guide himself into Zayn. His brow was furrowed and his bottom lip caught between his teeth as he pressed in slowly. 

Zayn groaned long and steady as Liam inched further and further into him. He loved this, the slow burn of pleasure-pain that went through him; it had taken Liam a little while to become comfortable with not stretching Zayn quite enough before they fucked, no matter how many times Zayn had told him that he enjoyed it. Eventually he understood, and although Zayn had told him he didn’t have to go so slow on the first thrust, he still did. 

They worked up a steady rhythm. Zayn rocked up to meet Liam’s thrusts, one hand pressing against the headboard, and the other alternating between pulling at the covers and coming up to his face so he could bite down on the heel of his palm, eyes screwed shut in pleasure.

The room was filled with the sound of heavy breathing, gasps, groans and the slap of flesh-on-flesh. Liam adjusted his grip on Zayn’s leg, his fingers digging into his soft inner thigh so hard they might leave bruises. Zayn dragged his eyes open so he could take in how Liam look just then; with his head bowed and his hands white-knuckled where they gripped at Zayn’s hip and thigh.

“Doin’ so good Li. ‘M gonna come soon, just a bit harder,” Zayn panted out between hitching breaths and Liam pulled himself up onto his knees a little more, lifting Zayn’s hips higher. He leaned forward, pressing Zayn leg towards his chest and thrust hard, letting a moan escape his throat each time he bottomed out. 

Reaching out, Zayn let his fingertips slide over Liam’s flushed, sweat-slicked chest before dropping his hand to curl around his own cock. He dug his heel into Liam’s back, urging him on, and started to jerk himself; his palm stripping quickly up and down the shaft and his thumb pressing into the slit. He felt everything go tight low in his belly, his muscles seizing; and then Zayn was coming hard and hot over his hand and stomach, his chest heaving as he dragged in huge gasping breaths.

Liam didn’t stop, just fucked him through it, his hipbones slamming into Zayn’s arse. “I'm almost- Oh god, Zayn. Fuck, fuck, fu- _Ahh_.” Liam’s thighs trembled as he came. His whole body shook and he dropped Zayn’s thigh to curl forward and groan into Zayn’s stomach. 

He knelt there for a moment, breathing harsh and unevenly into Zayn’s skin, until Zayn slid his fingers into Liam’s hair. Tugging gently at Liam’s curls, Zayn managed to get him to move. Carefully Liam pulled himself free of Zayn, tying off the condom and chucking on the floor to be dealt with later; he pulled himself up the bed until they were side-by-side and grinned brilliantly, if not a little sleepily, at Zayn.

Zayn snorted softly and swiped his thumb over Liam’s chin. “You’ve got come on your chin.”

“Your fault,” Liam murmured and pulled Zayn’s thumb into his mouth, sucking it clean. Once he was done, Liam threaded their fingers together and let their hands drop to rest on his chest.

Zayn rolled onto his side to look at Liam, the sun streaming in through the skylight made the sweat on his skin shine and he could feel Liam’s heart beating in his chest, the rhythm of it fast and not unlike Zayn’s own at that moment. He really was beautiful and Zayn was so in love with him. He realised he needed to say it now, before Harry and Niall came barrelling home or his heart leapt out of his throat.

“Liam,” he said softly, voice barely above a whisper. Liam’s eyes flicked to him and Zayn took a steadying breath before kissing him once. “I'm in love with you.”

Liam laughed delightedly and rolled into Zayn, tipping him onto his back. “Good,” he said, kissing Zayn soundly, “because I'm in love with you too.” 

 

_FIN_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is the end of the road folks.
> 
> Thank you so much for everything.


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